Africa Check

#LGE2026: Seven claims from the DA’s election manifesto fact-checked

South Africa’s second-largest political party is campaigning on a promise to get the country’s towns and cities “working for ...
Africa Check

#LGE2026: What South Africa’s major parties are promising voters in the local elections

Africa Check reviewed the 2026 local-election manifestos of six of the eight largest parties in the National Assembly, ...
Africa Check

FACTSHEET: Who owns the land in Nigeria?

Nigeria's Land Use Act from 1978 abolished all existing freehold systems. This factsheet explains how land is secured in Nigeria and the rules for transfer and succession that apply. In colonial ...
Africa Check

How much does livestock contribute to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the monetary value of all goods and services that a country produces in a given time period. Livestock is a sub-sector of agriculture that includes animals used to ...
Africa Check

Kenya vs South Africa? Fact-checking claims about the two countries’ contrasting economic paths

South African publication the Daily Maverick recently published a glowing opinion piece on Kenya’s growth trajectory, often contrasting it with South Africa’s. The author made several statements of ...
Africa Check

FACTSHEET: Nigeria rebases its economy again – here’s what sets it apart

In mid-2025, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) updated how it calculates gross domestic product or GDP, changing the base year from 2010 to 2019. Even so, the new figure fell short of ...
Africa Check

#NigeriaDecides2023: 10 disinformation trends in election season

Africa’s most populous country holds elections – including for president – in February 2023. So far, we’ve spotted 10 types of false information in the campaigns. Published on 10 January 2023 ...
Africa Check

FACTSHEET: From VAT to income tax: how Nigeria’s new tax rules affect you

In June 2025, president Bola Tinubu signed four new tax reform bills into law, bringing big changes to how taxes are managed in Nigeria. After the signing, Zacch Adedeji, the executive chairperson of ...
Africa Check

That viral WhatsApp warning is wrong – but the app does have privacy concerns

In April 2025, messaging platform WhatsApp introduced a new feature called “advanced chat privacy”. According to the company, it aims to help users “prevent others from taking content outside of ...
Africa Check

‘This is actually happening, it’s a scam’: a handy guide to predatory conferences

Half an hour before the start of her session on the day of the conference, University of the Witwatersrand associate professor Marike Venter de Villiers logged on to the link provided. Forty-five ...
Africa Check

Adolescent mental health in South Africa: what do the numbers say?

How many adolescents have mental illness? And how many get the care they need? A South African news article’s statistics may be outdated and from another country, but its message rings true: mental ...
Africa Check

Jury still out on how much South Africa loses to corruption every day

An opposition party claims that South Africa loses R800 million to corruption every day. But the number can’t be verified, and appears based on an older rumour – itself unsubstantiated – that R300 ...