NATIONAL NEWS - The man behind a controversial fake news site infamous for sharing a picture of a black man and white victim together with a story on the Dros rapist, which was widely shared as proof of racism in the media, has been revealed by News24 to be 29-year-old Unisa employee William Mahlatse Ramatseba.
Before it was revealed that the victim was, in fact, black and the rape accused a white 20-year-old called Nicholas Ninow, the website Mzansi Stories shared a picture of a black man along with a stock image of a white victim with the caption: “Meet a man who raped a 6 years old at Dros Silverton, Pretoria in man’s toilet.” (sic)
This is just one of several examples of misinformation spread by the site around the Dros rape. It also published articles alleging that Ninow’s mother had claimed he committed the act as a result of being bewitched by black neighbours, that he had claimed his victim looked older and didn’t “look like a virgin”, and that several neighbours had noted that Ninow was a paedophile after using him as a babysitter yet chose to not report him.
Mzansi Stories is just one of the websites Ramatseba is alleged to have run alongside his sister. The others – including Allnews.com and some which are not currently live called Bestnews.co.za, Allreport.co.za, and Gautengpraise.com – are all known for spreading blatantly made-up news mixed with actual news aggregated or copied directly from a range of local news sites.
While Ramatseba hid his identity through privacy proxies, one of his sites expired, leading to its registration records being made public on an online database. News24 were then able to further link the sites to Ramatseba and his sister, Gracy, through social media.
Stories currently on the site include one on a teenager Malusi Gigaba is alleged to have had an affair with, on how mayonnaise can be used as a skin lightener to help become a “yellowbone”, and even one on how Tupac Shakur is still alive and has been photographed with Rihanna. None of these stories should be trusted, shared, or believed.
News24’s ongoing crusade against fake news has seen them launch a website, Fake News Exposed, and partner with Africa Check, who joined them in conducting an investigation exposing the corporates who have funded fake news, whether knowingly or inadvertently, through Google programmatic advertising.
(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)
