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As the battle against the new coronavirus intensifies, conspiracy theories and ignorance have flourished as a gullible public crushes false news and false claims spread by those with malicious intent or pure lack of judgment.
One of the latest theories that has resurfaced almost two years after its original debunking is that the Chinese government has allegedly opened “police stations” in South Africa. The number of police stations varies, depending on who you choose to believe.
Some of the latest theories to the surface include that: “China opened 13 police stations in SA to ensure that the Chinese virus does (sic) what it was designed to do (sic)”; “The Chinese send the police there first (sic) and then the Chinese virus to clear SA for them. Africa is sold to China.” “China has started to colonize SA, we’ve had (sic) shopping malls, cities, towns and more recently Chinese police stations! What the hell? Yes, we have to deal with this”; and “Chinese (sic) personnel were recently deployed to Johannesburg police stations.”
This sudden outburst of paranoia and alarm comes from a fake Facebook post that appeared in October 2018, claiming to show the opening of the “14th Chinese Police Station in South Africa.”
‘There are no Chinese police stations in SA’
According to the French news agency AFP, the Chinese have not opened any police stations in the country, but have established 14 community and police cooperation centers to work with the South African police.
An image accompanying the Facebook post shows Chinese police officers who attended the opening of the 14th center in Port Elizabeth. The post, dated October 30, 2018, contains an image of the opening with the Eastern Cape Police Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Liziwe Ntshinga and uniformed Chinese dignitaries, with a caption that reads: “#The Chinese are now opening their own Police stations in South Africa to protect their own people and businesses. #Ramaphosa and #ANC have sold our country to the highest Bider (sic). “
In a similar post shared on Twitter by an account with 468,390 followers, four images of the opening are included in the tweet. He states: “Now the Chinese are opening their own police stations in South Africa, they have already opened 13 and this was opened yesterday in PE. They even teach the police to speak Chinese so that the Chinese people do not have difficulty communicating with them (sic) . “
At that time, police spokesman Colonel Priscilla Naidu told AFP: “These cooperation centers are not police stations and are not manned by the South African Police Service. [SAPS] personal.
“SAPS is mandated by the Constitution of this country to serve and protect all citizens of this country and, as provided, our powers cannot be vested in any other.”
Local data verification website Africa Check also denied the claims in November 2018.
Good relations platform.
Police spokesman Captain Khaya Tonjeni told Africa Check that the center “was not a police station.” He said his purpose was to teach the basics of the Mandarin Chinese language to police officers working in community service centers at Eastern Cape police stations.
Tonjeni reportedly said the Mandarin learning program started in 2016, but the center itself only opened on October 28, 2018, the day the photos of Ntshinga and Chinese embassy staff were taken.
Jie Zhang, head of the center, told Africa Check that it was a non-profit organization working to improve relations between the police, local communities and the Chinese living in the Nelson Mandela Bay township.
“[The centre] it focuses on the safety of Chinese citizens and on being a platform for good relations with the police to help Chinese citizens because there is a huge language barrier, “he said.
“At our center, we have colleagues who work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, who know English and Chinese. It is also how we can fight crime and do our part for a safer environment here.”
Dr. Cobus van Staden, principal investigator at the South African Institute of International Affairs, told Africa Check that the lack of information could worry people about the presence of Chinese people in South Africa.
“The type of large-scale engagement between the Chinese state and large Chinese companies with a large amount of migration to Africa is relatively new. But also, the police forums themselves have not been as proactive as they might be in terms of communication. with the rest of the country exactly what is your job. “
‘Feeding the hatred between China and SA’
At the time the rumor emerged, the Chinese consulate in South Africa reported that it had “sparked quite aggressive verbal attacks online, fueling a culture of hatred and undermining friendship between the peoples of China and South Africa.”
The consulate said in a 2018 statement that 13 police and South African-Chinese community cooperation centers had been established since 2004.
“It is important to emphasize that the status of all these 13 centers are strictly Chinese non-profit associations and that they have no law enforcement authority,” said Yu Yong, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in South Africa.
“The main responsibilities of the centers are to participate in community policing mechanisms led by SAPS and to cooperate closely with SAPS to prevent and combat criminals against the Chinese community in South Africa.
A Facebook post about Chinese ‘police stations’ in SA has been denied.
“Since their establishment, these centers have actively safeguarded the personal and property security of local communities, including the Chinese community in South Africa, and have been well received and widely supported by the governments of China and South Africa, as well as by local communities .
“Anyone with basic common sense and conscience, and certainly not necessarily a medical degree, would understand that such centers definitely cannot be called ‘Chinese Police Stations,'” Yu said.
“We welcome constructive oversight and criticism of China-South Africa cooperation and China-Africa cooperation. However, we sincerely hope that before making public comments, one will leave the office to really see and understand what the Chinese are doing in South Africa and Africa, and think for yourself if what the Chinese have been doing is conducive to the self-sustainable development of South Africa and Africa.
“Making false stories or spreading disinformation and misinformation against China not only discourages China as a sincere friend to Africa, but it does not do one’s name and credibility good either,” Yu added.
Significant increase in fake news
William Bird, director of Media Monitoring Africa, previously told News24 that there had been a significant increase in fake news and conspiracy theories since the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
Bird said that in the past fake messages were predominantly shared on open platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which made monitoring easier, but that there has been a predominant change to WhatsApp, where it is much more difficult to track or monitor.
“Some people make statements that are fundamentally misinformed because they have not applied their brains or logic, so there is a certain level of ignorance. But some of them deliberately seek to mislead people and instill fear or mistrust people. things”.
Social media attorney Emma Sadleir said that as much as we face a health epidemic, we also face an epidemic of fake news.
“Every time emotions build, a breeding ground is created for the fake news.”
In some cases, these fake news broadcasters seek to capitalize on it, while others are using it for political gain, particularly when they have a narrative, Sadleir said.
“There are activists out there, it’s the same as the people who start fires. Some of these people are trying to provoke emotions; in other cases, it is pure stupidity.”
“The same people who buy conspiracy theories are the best breeding ground [for sharing fake news]”
National Police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo told News24 on Wednesday that “there is no Chinese police station in South Africa.”
“These are just old publications that people have been spreading.”
Jail time for fake news
The South African government has released new laws under the Disaster Management Act to combat the spread of false news.
Citizens could be fined or imprisoned for six months for spreading false news about the coronavirus.
Regulation 11 (5) (c) of the law classifies fake news as “publishing any statement through any medium, including social media, with the intention of misleading anyone else about government measures to address Covid- 19 “.
– Compiled by Riaan Grobler. Additional reports from AFP and Africa Check
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