STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.

Fake Video

Did the South African Broadcasting Corporation air a news segment saying Ukrainian President Zelenskyy bought a 51% stake in mining company Northam Platinum? No, that's not true: No such video appears on the website or social media accounts of SABC News. The audio in the segment was generated using Artificial Intelligence according to online detection tools and Northam confirmed to Lead Stories the story wasn't true.

The video appeared in a post on X (archived here) published on April 4, 2025 with a comment that read:

In case you were wondering how your tax dollars are being spent - Zelensky just purchased a 51% stake in one of the biggest platinum mining companies in South Africa - Northam Platinum.

The price is believed to be around $1.6B. Zelensky will be visiting South Africa on April 10th.

This is the video in question:

In case you were wondering how your tax dollars are being spent - Zelensky just purchased a 51% stake in one of the biggest platinum mining companies in South Africa - Northam Platinum.

The price is believed to be around $1.6B. Zelensky will be visiting South Africa on April... pic.twitter.com/QYHpK91xKP

-- Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) April 4, 2025

The voiceover in the video said:

Zelensky is set to visit South Africa and meet President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 10th, but his arrival is already surrounded by controversy following news that he has purchased a controlling stake in Northam Platinum Ltd., one of South Africa's leading platinum mining companies. Sources close to the transaction confirm that Zelensky through a network of holding companies secured a 51% stake in Northam Platinum.

The price is estimated to be around 27 billion South African rand or 1.6 billion US dollars. Some speculate that Zelensky's visit to South Africa is not merely diplomatic, but also strategically tied to his new business interest. Meanwhile, workers at Northam Platinum Limited have expressed mixed reactions. Some of them fear potential restructuring and job losses.

The SABC crew managed to speak with one of the miners at the Zondervin Platinum mine after the end of the shift. "Yeah, so a few weeks ago, we were told the company changed ownership, but it will not affect us as workers. And uh they say the new owner, the president of Ukraine, Valdemar Vilensky."

The National Union of Mine Workers has called for urgent discussions to ensure that the deal does not negatively impact employee.

(Transcription made using Google Pinpoint)

Two AI detectors -- DeepFake-o-Meter (archived here) and and Hiya in the InVid verification plugin showed that the audio was likely not authentic:

A search for stories mentioning "Northam Platinum" on the website of SABC news did not return any results more recent than 2023 (archived here), none of them mentioning Zelenskyy. A search of their account on X for the same phrase also didn't return any stories beyond 2023 (archived here). Their YouTube channel also didn't contain any videos with the words "Northam Platinum" and "Zelensky" according to a search (archived here).

Northam Platinum's investor relations website (archived here) did not make any mention of Zelenskyy.

The video showed a screenshot of a "Opinion & Analysis" article published by NewsDay in Zimbabwe (archived here) on March 27, 2027 titled "Northam platinum: Zelensky's surprising move into the mining industry". The article opened:

Volodymyr Zelensky has acquired a controlling 51% stake in Northam Platinum Ltd, a top South African mining company, in a deal worth around 27 billion rands. This marks one of the largest mining acquisitions in South Africa in recent years.

Sources close to the transaction suggest that Zelensky, through a network of private investors and holding companies, secured a 51% stake in Northam Platinum. While details of the purchase remain largely undisclosed, the controlling stake is believed to be valued at around 27 billion rands, making it the largest deal in the South African mining sector in recent years.

However analysis using Hive's browser extension revealed those paragraphs were 99.8 percent likely to have been AI-generated.

(Image: NewsDay screenshot & Hive plugin)

A spokesperson for Northam confirmed in an email to Lead Stories the story was false:

Please note that all the media articles, videos and social media posts claiming that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acquiring a stake in Northam Platinum are fake news.

Northam confirms that our shareholding remains unchanged.

Lead Stories reached out to SABC News for comment and will update this story when a reply is received.