The internet is abuzz with rumours that President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on Monday evening [January 4] on developments in the country’s COVID-19 response. Both the Western Cape government and the South African government have labelled this information as fake news.
A widely shared Facebook post post claimed that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) met on Sunday to discuss further measures to curb the continued rise of positive cases amid the second wave.
The post also falsely claimed that President Ramaphosa would address the nation tonight, and was likely to re-instate Level 5 lockdown for seven days.
#FakeNews #covid19SA #NCCCmeeting https://t.co/sNJwN2xrm4
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) January 4, 2021
No official announcements of another presidential address have been made yet. The Western Cape Government urges citizens to fact check information found on social media before sharing, as this leads to the proliferation of fake news and misinformation.
All confirmed announcements are made via the official Presidency pages on Facebook and Twitter. If there is no announcement from these pages, it has not been officially confirmed.
