AN X user, Nkirukamma (@SabinaNkiru), has posted a video of a woman being lynched and beaten by a mob.
She claimed that the woman in the video is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) election commission chair and that she was beaten up after allegedly announcing rigged results.
The video caption read thus: DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) Election Commission Chair humiliated after announcing fake and rigged results. If INEC and Co was afraid of something even a little bit like this, our fortunes today will be much better.
In the 83 seconds footage, a woman could be seen being beaten and stripped by a mob. At some point, she tried to flee by walking away from the scene but was apprehended again and further stripped and beaten by the angry mob.
The video, posted on Sunday, December 31, 2023, has garnered over 700,000 views, more than 3,000 likes, over 1,000 comments and more than 2,500 reposts as of Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
Al-Jazeera reports that the preliminary results of the DR Congo presidential election conducted on December 20, 2023 was announced on December 31, 2023 which saw the nation’s current president, Felix Tshisekedi, re-elected into power.
CLAIM
Video shows DR Congo election commission chairperson being beaten and stripped.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE!
A search conducted on Google search engine to identify the chairperson of the election commission in DR Congo showed that the person in charge is Denis Kadima Kazadi, a male.
Kazadi has been in charge of the DR Congo’s Independent National Electoral Commission otherwise known as Commission électorale nationale indépendante (CENI) since he was appointed by Felix Tshisekedi in October 2021.
Although, The FactCheckHub could not independently verify the identity of the woman been beaten in the footage, the video had appeared on X few days after the election as seen here and here alongside captions that say the woman was being beaten for voting for Moise Katumbi, candidate of the opposition party.
Reports stated that the election was characterized with electoral violence which resulted in the opposition party demanding for a re-run election.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows DR Congo election commission chairperson being beaten and stripped is FALSE; the person in charge of the Commission électorale nationale indépendante (CENI) is Denis Kadima Kazadi, a male and not a woman as sighted in the footage.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
, has posted a video of a woman being lynched and beaten by a mob.){kind=link}
If you say it is false, it is your responsibility to find out who she is and let the world know what happened to her. You cannot dismiss her for whatever reason. it is a fact that a woman was lunched and stripped naked by the merciless mob.