Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bought a diamond mine in South Africa, according to a false narrative picked up in the Romanian online space.
NEWS: Zelensky bought a diamond mine in Africa - they say the news is fake. Then what is Zelensky doing in Africa? The day after tomorrow, on April 10, Zelensky will leave for Africa for what? "To discuss with the President of Africa the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine." With the President of South Africa? Is he going to pass through Zimbabwe as well? And idiots believe such a thing, don’t they? The envious say that he is making efforts to "get lost" in Africa. They say so out of envy! Others say that he will not succeed, that Prigozhin is waiting for him there. These conspiracists are so mean, they do not appreciate the efforts of the planetary hero at all.
NARRATIVE: The President of Ukraine bought a diamond mine in South Africa.
PURPOSE: To promote an anti-Ukrainian and by extension pro-Russian discourse, to provoke and amplify social tensions.
Zelensky is not investing in real estate or mining
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to South Africa, scheduled for April 24 , not April 10, has nothing to do with any economic operation by the Ukrainian president. It’s the result of an invitation extended by the president of the African state to his counterpart in Kyiv in early March. The move is part of a series of diplomatic moves by the Pretoria regime, aimed at diluting accusations of close relations with Moscow, especially in light of its membership in the Moscow-dominated BRICS economic alliance. South Africa is also trying, in this way, to get involved in mediating a peace process between Ukraine and Russia.
The narrative has previously appeared on an X account that posts dozens of videos per hour, almost exclusively conspiracy-based, conservative, and ultra-religious propaganda content supporting the MAGA movement and its main driver, the US President Donald Trump, as well as a series of anti-Ukrainian and anti-European narratives. On April 4, the account published a video bearing the logo of the South African public broadcaster, SABC News, in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to be in South Africa, negotiating the terms of a deal to acquire a majority stake in a mining company (not a mine) in the field of platinum extraction (not diamonds, as the narrative that reached the Romanian media claims), Northam Platinum.
The video is clearly a fake, generated by artificial intelligence, and this can be easily seen. Furthermore, the film and the associated news story do not exist on the SABC News website or on its official social media accounts. In fact, on the very day the clip was published, SABC categorically denied the false information in a post on its official X account.
Also, there is no announcement on the Northam Platinum website about such a large share transaction, neither by Zelensky nor by any other investor. According to the Market Screener portal, the top ten shareholders of Northam Platinum Holdings Limited are South African companies or investment funds, with stakes ranging from 0.3% to 20 percent, so a potential purchase of a 51% stake would have had to be negotiated with several parties, not just one, as the analyzed post suggests. The same report shows that individuals hold only 0.03% of Northam shares, while the legal entities are shareholders from South Africa – over 53%, and the rest from countries such as the United Kingdom – 0.22%, Sweden – 0.14%, Denmark – 0.1%, Switzerland – 0.06%, etc. Moreover, the company’s shareholders do not include any investors (natural persons or legal entities) from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian “Nazism” narrative and its many faces
CONTEXT: Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict , with the invasion of Crimea in 2014, (pro)Russian propaganda has been periodically spreading disinformation about Ukrainian officials, be they politicians or military, in order to justify its aggression, claiming it’s only aimed at establishing a political regime in Kyiv for the benefit of the population. Over time, Moscow has launched several false narratives about various Ukrainian leaders, including President Zelensky, allegedly receiving the citizenship of other countries , aiming on the one hand to discredit the Ukrainian government and army, which would not believe in Ukraine's victory and would prepare to flee abroad , and on the other hand, to demoralize the population, already faced with particularly serious problems caused by the war.
Russian propaganda often compares Volodymyr Zelensky to Adolf Hitler to justify its military aggression against Ukraine. This rhetoric is used to amplify anti-Ukrainian fears and sentiments among the Russian population and to portray the government in Kyiv as extremist or Nazi. Such comparisons are part of a disinformation strategy designed to influence public perception, both in Russia and abroad, and reduce support for the Ukrainian cause.
By promoting the idea that Ukrainian leaders are Nazis, Russia seeks to convince the public that Ukraine must be “denazified” and that the Russian aggression is, in fact, an anti-Nazi operation. In February, for example, Kremlin propaganda launched the false narrative according to which Zelensky had purchased a former Hitler residence , and in January 2024, a similar narrative claimed that the Ukrainian president had purchased a villa previously owned by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
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