FAKE: Volodymyr Zelenskyi purchased a stake in a mining company in South Africa — media

On social media, particularly on Threads, a report allegedly from the public broadcaster SABC News is being circulated, claiming that Volodymyr Zelenskyi purchased 51% of the Northam Platinum Ltd holding for $1.6 billion. This is a mining company specializing in platinum extraction and is one of the largest in the Republic of South Africa. The president allegedly plans to visit South Africa on April 10, 2025, and this visit is supposedly linked not to a diplomatic mission but to his personal business interests.

This is fake. The SABC News report is fabricated. Moreover, representatives of Northam Platinum Ltd denied that Zelenskyi purchased shares.

This video is yet another fiction by propagandists trying to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Ukraine in general in the West.

SABC News is not related to the mentioned report. The public broadcaster stated this on its Instagram page. There are no mentions on the broadcaster’s website or social media accounts about any connection between the President of Ukraine and Northam Platinum.

The DeepFake-o-meter tool, which detects whether content was generated using artificial intelligence, showed that the voice in the video is very likely not that of a real person.

The video is a compilation of frames from open sources. For example, the fake video includes a fragment of an allegedly urgently convened meeting of the National Union of Mineworkers. According to the story, it was gathered to discuss whether the agreement between Zelenskyi and the company posed any threats to workers.

Using keywords, we found that the clip was indeed cut from the Political Council meeting of the National Union of Mineworkers held on March 29, 2025. During the scheduled meeting, they discussed the political situation in the country and the role of the working class, but there was no mention of the so-called agreement between Zelenskyi and Northam Platinum Ltd.

Although the screenshot of the article shown in the report is real — on March 27, the media outlet Newsday Zimbabwe published a column about Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly acquiring part of the Northam company — the media did not provide any evidence to support the claim, and later deleted the article, replacing it with news about Donald Trump. However, the headline of the article about Volodymyr Zelenskyi can still be seen in the site’s domain.

It is worth noting that no reputable Ukrainian or international media have reported that Volodymyr Zelenskyi purchased 51% of Northam Platinum Ltd. On the contrary, in response to a request from independent fact-checkers from Lead Stories, Northam stated that users’ claims and videos are false. The company emphasized that Zelenskyi did not purchase any shares in their company.

The video also mentions Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to South Africa on April 10. The president of South Africa announced this visit back in March. However, the visit did not take place.

Propagandists continue to massively invent stories claiming that the President of Ukraine is allegedly buying up companies, as well as luxury mansions and hotels around the world. Previously, we already debunked a similar fake that Zelenskyi had supposedly bought the “Eagle’s Nest” estate, which formerly belonged to Adolf Hitler.