After South Africa’s new government was revealed in late June, online users shared viral screenshots from Wikipedia purportedly proving that Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber was born in Zimbabwe. However, AFP Fact Check found that its Wikipedia entry was changed several times within a few hours of the cabinet’s announcement, before reverting to the original version created in 2020, which names Namaqualand in South Africa as Schreiber’s birthplace.
“BREAKING NEWS: Republic of South Africa demands answers as DA Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, who is accused of being a foreigner from Zimbabwe, is given a key position in the country (sic)”, reads one X post published on June 30, 2024.
The AFP fact check unmasked claims on this account in the past.
His latest post includes four Wikipedia screenshots of Schreiber’s page: two highlight his new government role and two mark his birthplace as Zimbabwe.
The post adds: “On Wikipedia, Leon’s birthplace was changed 5 hours ago from Zimbabwe to South Africa, this is happening while South Africa is watching.”
The statement was shared thousands of times in posts here It is here. One of the accounts is dedicated to the anti-immigrant movement turned political party Put South Africa First, which AFP Fact Check has debunked several times.
The screenshots emerged on June 30, shortly after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed its unity government, the first of its kind in the country after 30 years of rule by the ruling African National Congress (archived here).
Schreiber was one of 20 ANC ministers to join the new cabinet as minister of home affairs.
Wikipedia Contributors
AFP Fact Check’s analysis of its Wikipedia page showed that it had been edited several times shortly after the new coalition was announced.
The website States“Wikipedia articles can be edited by anyone with Internet access, except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism” (archived here).
Ramaphosa was scheduled to give a speech at 9pm (7pm GMT) but was delayed by about an hour. During this period, Schreiber’s profile was edited to claim that he was born in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Anonymous users have changed his birthplace several times, claiming he was born in Cape Town, South Africa at one point and Soweto at another.
Following this battle of revisions, the birthplace was again listed as Namaqualand in the Northern Cape province of South Africa on 1 July.
This has been its birthplace on Wikipedia since the page was created in April 2020 (archived here).
Schreiber’s biography can also be found here It is here (filed here It is here). These entries were online long before his appointment in 2024 and also say he is a native of Namaqualand.
The Minister of Home Affairs addressed the rumors in a X post (filed here).
I took my first breath at the Radie Kotze clinic in Piketberg – “die skuins dorp met die regop mense”. He grew up in Kleinzee in Namaqualand, followed by studies in Stellenbosch, Berlin and Princeton. And until my last breath, I will fight for the country I love, against liars and looters. https://t.co/2EmqsQauvR
-Leon Schreiber (@Leon_Schreib) July 1, 2024
Despite having one of the largest in the world higher unemployment ratesSouth Africa attracts many economic migrants from other parts of the continent (archived here).
The influx, coupled with a grim economic outlook, has led to sporadic outbursts of anti-immigrant violence in recent years.
As AFP reportedelection candidates during this year’s campaign have further fanned the flames of hate and misinformation online, exploiting xenophobic sentiment and blaming foreigners for the nation’s problems (archived here).
