IN SHORT: An image of a woman struggling with South African police has been widely shared on social media, along with claims that she was a Mozambican immigrant arrested in Johannesburg. This is false. The claim seems to originate from a Facebook page which solicits subscriptions for its frequent false claims.

A photograph of a woman dressed in orange struggling with another woman in police uniform has been widely shared in South Africa along with claims that it shows a Mozambican immigrant “Arrested in Johannesburg After Fighting With police Officers”.

Posts on Facebook, X and TikTok, all from late October 2025, claim that: “SAPS officers approached her to request business permit documents for her hair salon this morning . When she failed to Produce The Required Paperwork, a confrontation broke out, leading to her Arrest.” The SAPS is the South African Police Service.

But this claim is false. The photo was taken in Cape Town in 2019, when police forcibly removed protesters outside the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Some social media users immediately spotted this false claim, but that didn’t stop it from being amplified by popular promoters of misinformation, accounts that profit from disinformation, and at least one popular chatbot powered by artificial intelligence.

Repeat offenders: social media accounts earning money and attention from false information

The earliest example of this claim that Africa Check could find was posted...

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