Charges were laid at a Johannesburg police station in April, accusing South African president Cyril Ramaphosa of serious crimes from racketeering and high treason to theft and murder. We sifted through the 200-page affidavit and consulted experts to make sense of this strange tale. Buckle up! We fell down the White Spiritual Boy Trust rabbit hole
ANALYSIS: What Africa Check found down the White Spiritual Boy Trust rabbit hole
By researcher Naledi Mashishi
Africa Check doesn’t shy away from fact-checking the absurd. We’ve investigated claims that dead mermaids were found in a South African president’s swimming pool. And did a prophet really challenge a lion to a fight in Kruger National Park?
But I didn’t expect my fact-check into claims about South African President Cyril Ramaphosa being charged with racketeering and treason to turn very weird, very quickly.
A Facebook post, published in April 2021, includes nine photographs. The first is of two men standing outside the Sandton, Johannesburg branch of the South African Police Service. The second shows one of the men writing on a document inside a room. The rest of the photos appear to show pages of an affidavit.