CLAIM: This is Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU PF filling potholes with gravel on an urban tarred road
SOURCE: Hopewell Chin’ono on Twitter
VERDICT: False
On 16 May 2023, Hopewell Chino’no tweeted a picture here to his more than 590 thousand followers claiming that a picture he shared was of ZANU PF patching potholes using gravel on an urban road.
His tweet currently has 120 thousand views and counting. It has also been retweeted hundreds of times.
In his tweet, Chino’no says “..But because we are in election mode, ZANU PF comically has come with gravel solutions.”
But is the picture really of ZANU PF? FactCheckZW checked.
The picture was first posted here by Voice Of America Studio 7 (VOA Shona) on Facebook and is of Melbah Dzapasi, a leader of the opposition D.A.V.I.D party.
In the same post on another picture, a man is seen standing next to the car holding a placard written: “D.A.V.I.D PARTY Avocating(sic) for proper and efficient service delivery”
Credit: VOA Facebook
The same car carrying the gravel, presumably for filling in the potholes, is also seen here in a live video posted by Heart and Soul Zim where Dzapasi says she was demonstrating against poor service delivery by the Harare City Council.
Dzapasi was using her POLAD car which is branded with Zimbabwean flag colours, almost similar to ZANU PF branding. This makes it easier for one to mistake a ZANU PF branded car to that of a POLAD one.
POLAD car (Credit: Twitter)
Conclusion
The claim that the picture shared is of ‘Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU PF filling potholes with gravel on an urban tarred road’ has been rated as false. The picture is that of another political party, D.A.V.I.D.
FactCheckZW reached out to Chin’ono, on the source of the picture and he responded. He said, ‘It was shared in a ZANUPF group as evidence of what they are doing Compared to what they called urban councils failure.
So my tweet is saying that it is central government that should be fixing roads’.
This fact-check was updated to include the comment from Chino’no.
