Russia Interfering in South Africa’s Electoral Process, Say Opposition Parties

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa opens proceedings of the swearing in of new cabinet ministers in the South African parliament in Cape Town on Feb. 27, 2018. Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—On the afternoon of March 9, a video on social media platform X went viral in South Africa.

It appears to show former U.S. President Donald Trump saying: “Greetings, all South Africans. My name is President Donald Trump. I urge all South Africans to vote for uMkhonto WeSizwe on 29 May.

“The African National Congress of Cyril Ramaphosa has failed all South Africans. With this new black party, led by President Jacob Zuma, all South Africans will matter.”

Tech experts soon confirmed that the video declaring Mr. Trump’s disdain for the governing ANC and support for the MK party was a “deepfake,” a video that has been manipulated using an algorithm to replace one person’s likeness convincingly with another.

South Africa goes to the polls in late May, an election that analysts forecast will be the most competitive in the country’s history.

Cybercrime investigators traced the Trump deepfake to Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma.

In May 2023, an investigation by the London-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) and South African counter-disinformation experts exposed Ms. Zuma-Sambudla as one of Africa’s biggest “disinformation propagators.”

The CIR report said the “super-influencer” was the “main amplifier” of the #IStandWithPutin and #IStandWithRussia campaigns that began on X shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

One of the CIR investigators, Phumzile van Damme, a South African specialist in counter-disinformation strategy and operations and United Nations adviser in the fields, told The Epoch Times: “Tweets and posts by Zuma-Sambudla spread like wildfire around Africa, and beyond, and were vital in winning huge support for Putin and Russia and promoting anti-West and specifically anti-American narratives.

“The Trump deepfake should be viewed within this context. It wasn’t shared on X by an anonymous account, or a run-of-the-mill user. It was distributed by a key player in Africa’s disinformation sphere and it was shared with malicious intent.”

Ms. Zuma-Sambudla didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Like their ANC counterparts, the 41-year-old and her 81-year-old father are frequent visitors to Moscow, where they’re often hosted by Mr. Putin’s United Russia Party.

Mr. Zuma is a former chief of ANC intelligence and once commanded the party’s military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), which was armed and funded by the Soviet Union and China from the early 1960s to early 1990s during its insurrection against apartheid.

Mr. Zuma led South Africa as the head of the ANC between 2009 and early 2018, when he was ousted by his then-deputy, Mr. Ramaphosa.

Former President Jacob Zuma addresses the press at his home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, on Aug. 6, 2021. Shiraaz Mohamed/AP Photo

Mr. Zuma was sentenced to a 15-month jail term in 2021 for contempt of court after refusing to testify at an inquiry investigating corruption during his presidency.

His imprisonment ignited protests and riots that left more than 500 people dead, with thousands injured. It was the worst civil unrest in post-apartheid South Africa.

Subsequent investigations showed that Ms. Zuma-Sambudla was one of the prime instigators of the violence, which Mr. Ramaphosa said was intended to “severely weaken—or even dislodge—the democratic state.”

Jean le Roux, of South Africa’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, told The Epoch Times: “Hours after her father’s arrest, Zuma-Sambudla tweeted ‘Let it Burn.’

“I presented evidence to various security agencies that she was behind one of the Twitter accounts used to celebrate the anarchy that followed.”

Another investigation by South Africa’s Human Rights Commission, details of which were released in January, further emphasized the role of social media in exacerbating the violence.

It found: “Social media platforms, whether open or closed, were utilized by individuals and specific groups to organize and aid in the spread of the unrest.

“These forums served to advance various agendas during the July 2021 unrest, including establishing collaborative networks, strategically spreading misinformation and disinformation, and mobilizing and celebrating looting and violence.”

Mr. Zuma spent only two months in prison before being freed on medical grounds.

A court later ruled that the release was illegal and that the former president should return to jail to serve the remainder of his sentence.

But he never did, as the ANC government argued that the prison system was “overcrowded.”

Mr. Ramaphosa pledged that all “inciters of violence” would be prosecuted, but Mr. Zuma and his daughter have never faced charges.

In 2022, the commission of inquiry concluded that Mr. Zuma and his associates looted state-owned enterprises of an estimated 500 billion rand (almost US$30 billion at current exchange rates), mostly during the last four years of his tenure.

Mr. Zuma is set for trial this year on multiple counts of corruption, fraud, and money laundering related to a multimillion-dollar government arms deal in the 1990s, but he hasn’t been charged with any crime committed during his presidency.

He denies all allegations against him, claiming they’re part of a “political conspiracy” driven by Mr. Ramaphosa.

In December 2023, Mr. Zuma and his daughter started the Umkhonto WeSizwe (MK) party to contest the upcoming election, its stated aim being to end ANC rule.

At a media conference in Soweto, near Johannesburg, they said it was “time for the ANC to die.”

Flanked by armed bodyguards wearing military uniforms supplied by China, Mr. Zuma and Ms. Zuma-Sambudla branded the ANC a “proxy of white monopoly capital” that had “declared war against black professionals and intellectuals.”

This is the same messaging used in a recent flurry of pro-ANC social media posts and deepfakes to describe the Democratic Alliance (DA), the party seen as the greatest threat to ANC dominance.

A new report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a think-tank affiliated with the U.S. Defense Department, says at least 11 disinformation campaigns designed to boost the ANC and denigrate its opponents ahead of the May election are currently operating.

Of these, it says, six are conducted by “Kremlin-linked actors,” two by “CCP [Chinese Communist Party]-linked actors,” and three by “domestic political actors.”

The report notes: “Russia has been the primary disinformation actor in South Africa.

“In addition to pushing narratives intended to polarise communities, fan distrust and bolster the ANC, Russia has used influential South Africans to promote pro-Russian narratives within South Africa and abroad.”

Some of the false audio recordings being distributed via channels such as WhatsApp and TikTok have DA officials admitting that their party is funded by the U.S. government and some of the United States’ leading businessmen.

In one recording, a voice sounding like that of DA member of Parliament Glynnis Breytenbach says the party has secured a large donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

On Jan. 30, Mr. Ramaphosa claimed that some Western countries might seek “regime change” in South Africa because of his administration’s pursuit of genocide charges against their ally, Israel, at the International Court of Justice, for Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

He said at an ANC meeting: “We are aware there will be systematic fightback campaigns. These forces will do anything in their power to prevent South Africa from concluding their case.

“The fightback may focus on our domestic politics and our electoral outcomes in order to pursue a regime change agenda.”

The DA is struggling to shake off a reputation, promoted by the ANC, that it represents the interests of white, suburban, middle-class South Africa, even though the DA is the country’s most racially diverse party.

The party, which is dedicated to “Western ideals of democracy,” is leading a coalition that surveys show could dethrone the ANC.

The DA says that should it get an opportunity to govern, it will “tear up all corrupt contracts and military alliances” the ANC has formed with “brutal dictatorships and kleptocracies,” especially those involving China, Russia, and Iran.

The latest pre-election survey, by South Africa’s internationally respected Brenthurst Foundation, shows support for the ANC at an all-time low of 39 percent.

The ANC’s unpopularity has intensified in recent years, amid allegations of corruption, rampant violent crime, service delivery failures that leave millions of South Africans without water and electricity every day, and the world’s highest unemployment rate, almost 35 percent.

The Brenthurst survey puts support for the DA-led Multiparty Coalition (MPC) at 33 percent and says MK could win 13 percent of the vote.

Professor Dirk Kotze, of the politics department at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, told The Epoch Times that it’s MK, not the MPC, that could take down the ANC.

“Jacob Zuma remains an immensely popular figure, especially in rural areas that usually vote ANC,” he said.

“They love Zuma because he preaches Zulu tribalism; he presents himself as a simple man of the people; he talks their language; he comes from a village; he raises cattle; he carries spears, sings about machine guns, talks bad English, and dresses in leopard skins.

“Oh, and he also has six wives. He is the complete opposite of the ANC elite, which presents itself as sophisticated and superior.”

Mr. Kotze said MK, because of the “Zuma factor,” would “steal votes from the ANC and not from the DA or any other party.”

He said that the only route to “continued but weakened power” for the ANC would be for it to form a coalition government with smaller parties, possibly with the vehemently anti-West Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

“This will of course be heavily dependent on how much of the vote the ANC and the EFF win,” Mr. Kotze said.

The Brenthurst survey indicates that EFF support is at 10 percent.

Ms. Van Damme said both the Trump video and the Breytenbach deepfake were likely made using Parrot AI.

This “voice generator” allows users to select a celebrity avatar, including global leaders, input a script, and produce a video with the chosen celebrity seemingly uttering the scripted words.

Ms. Van Damme is currently a technology and human rights fellow at Harvard University, where she’s examining the ramifications of emerging technologies, with a particular focus on AI.

She said Parrot AI has become a “favorite tool” of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, which Western intelligence groups have accused of waging cyberwarfare and interfering in elections around the world, including the 2016 vote in the United States.

Last week, when releasing their Annual Threat Assessment, multiple U.S. intelligence agencies warned that Russia is using AI deepfakes to “fool experts” and target politically unstable and war-torn countries to “spread chaos and to incite violence and hatred towards Western countries.”

Emma-Louise Powell, the DA’s shadow minister of international relations, said her party “strongly suspects Russia’s hidden hand” in the disinformation campaign targeting it.

“These bots and fake videos depict us as racists who essentially want to sell Africa’s soul to the West,” she told The Epoch Times.

“What we’re dealing with here is an AI-driven campaign designed to erode our support by supposedly proving that we’re a front organization for the United States and other Western governments.

“We have bots and social media posts creating false statements about us not caring about the plight of impoverished black citizens, like showing images of black people living in squalor in areas where we control municipalities, like Cape Town, when millions live in worse conditions where the ANC has ruled for 30 years.”

Ms. Powell added: “We can’t say for sure what entities are behind this campaign against us. What we can say for sure is that the ANC’s current bedfellows are not exactly known for human rights and democracy.

“We know that China, Russia, and Iran have the technology to sow disinformation and misinformation during elections. They also have the motive to do so, because it’s in their interests to keep the ANC in power.

“South Africa, under the ANC, backs them up at the UN and provides them with critical minerals and precious metals. They could lose all these benefits if the ANC loses power.”

The ANC government has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and Beijing’s human rights abuses. Its officials are frequent visitors to the Kremlin, and it has pledged closer military cooperation with China and Russia.

South Africa also successfully lobbied for Iran to join it, China, and Russia in the BRICS bloc of some of the world’s strongest emerging economies, which Tehran did in January.

South Africa is currently the only African representative on the U.N. Security Council, where, as a nonpermanent member, it consistently supports Russian and Chinese positions.

Fearing interference in the forthcoming election, the DA has written to leaders in several of the world’s top democracies asking them to send observers to monitor the May vote.

One of the letters is addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It asked him to help “ensure the integrity” of the vote and to “safeguard against any attempts to disrupt the democratic process.”

In response, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula told The Epoch Times: “We don’t know why the DA is making such a fuss. Our party doesn’t need dirty tricks because we’re going to win the election by a large margin.

“But if we wanted to do dirty tricks we wouldn’t need Russian help to do so.”

The ANC, however, has a long track record of turning to Russia for help when it’s in trouble. It did so in 2022, when the party was on the brink of bankruptcy, according to ANC insiders.

President of the Skolkovo Foundation Viktor Vekselberg attends a briefing at the G20 Summit on Sept.6, 2013, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Anatoly Medved/Host Photo Agency via Getty Images

That’s when U.S.-sanctioned oligarch and Putin confidante Viktor Vekselberg stepped in to bail it out with a large donation.

The ANC has since confirmed that Mr. Vekselberg remains one of the party’s major financial backers.

“Given this context, and all the disinformation that’s being distributed, and the high stakes, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to request assistance from trusted partners to ensure that South Africa’s election is free and fair,” Ms. Powell said.

“Because of the ANC, we’re already close to being a failed state; we don’t want to add crisis-ridden and untrustworthy elections to that deadly cocktail.”