On Friday, a video supposedly showed President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the nation about loadshedding during a ‘family meeting’ that was bizarrely not announced by the Presidency.
Here’s why the Ramaphosa ‘family meeting’ clip is a hoax
In the viral video clip, a voice resembling Ramaphosa speaks with a great deal of enthusiasm and, quite oddly, without speech disfluencies about supposed measures being taken to address rotational power outages which, this week, rose to Stage 4.
The voice resembling Ramaphosa announced that “structures such as Loftus Stadium and the Voortrekker monument will be demolished to accommodate large-scale diesel generators.”
“To transform the public transport sector, we’ll introduce solar-powered taxi ranks and will thus make owners of taxi businesses exempt from paying taxes,” the voice claimed.
Social media was abuzz with internet troll spreading the video, claiming the ‘family meeting’ was broadcast live during a SABC News feed.
Of course, a closer look at the man impersonating Ramaphosa debunks the ‘family meeting’ as a hoax.
In fact, unknown figures behind the clip not only used deepfake technology to clone the president’s face but also utilised artificial intelligence to generate arbitrary speech mimicking Ramaphosa.
Here’s a look at the ‘family meeting’ hoax doing the rounds on social media:
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The Presidency had not issued a statement clearing up confusion around the fake Ramaphosa address when this article was published.
This is a developing story.