As transport-related unrest persists in South Africa’s Western Cape province, social media customers are sharing a video claiming it presentations police violently arresting minibus-taxi drivers for harassing a pregnant girl. However the declare is fake; the pictures used to be filmed in 2023 all over clashes in Cape The town over the impounding of minibuses by means of government.
“Taxi Drivers Arrested After Alleged Harassment of Pregnant Lady at College Pickup,” reads a part of a long X publish published on August 26, 2025.
“8 taxi drivers have been taken into custody previous as of late after reportedly making an attempt to forcibly take away a pregnant girl from her automobile whilst she used to be choosing up her youngsters from college,” provides the caption posted with pictures by means of an account referred to as “@PrimeTimeNewsZA”.
Consistent with the publish, “the girl and her youngsters have been unhurt”, however the police didn’t divulge the “particular college location to offer protection to the sufferer’s privateness”.
The publish, with over 5,000 likes and greater than 1,100 reposts, comprises 3 screenshots appearing an altercation involving police officers and other folks in minibuses recurrently used for public transportation in South Africa.
Screenshot of the deceptive X publish, revealed on August 27, 2025
An afternoon later, the similar account replied to the publish with a 60-second video of the purported scene, appearing police the usage of power to apprehend other folks gazing amongst rows of minibuses blockading the street.
The publish is captioned: “Video of incident involving taxi drivers and regulation enforcement.”
This, and the title of the account, implies this is a contemporary information record, an assumption echoed in some replies. Different customers, alternatively, disregarded the clip as an previous video.
Screenshot of a few replies underneath the X publish, taken on September 1, 2025
An identical posts have been shared on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Despite the fact that tensions throughout the minibus taxi trade have escalated in contemporary months, this video has been on-line since August 2023.
Cape The town blitz
A reverse image search of the screenshots within the publish and the clip within the feedback resulted in older social media posts and articles a couple of police disagreement in Cape The town, South Africa.
AFP Reality Test discovered the video used to be published on August 2, 2023, on X with the caption: “Taxi drivers brought about violence in Cape The town previous. On this video, they met their fit SAPS and Metro…(sic)” (archived here).
Screenshot of the X publish revealed on August 2, 2023
Each movies depict the similar standoff between taxi operators and cops.
Comparability of screenshots appearing the similar scene from the X publish in August 2025 (left) and the publish revealed two years in the past
At the day in query, native media reported that violent clashes had damaged out in Cape The town after regulation enforcement companies impounded taxis, prompting some operators to fasten themselves within their minibuses in protest (archived here).
AFP Reality Test geolocated the junction in Cape The town the place the blitz came about by means of looking out on Google Maps for Christiaan Barnard Boulevard, the title that looks on a boulevard signal within the video.
Screenshots of the video circulating (left) marked to turn similarities discovered on Google Maps
A comparability of the satellite tv for pc imagery and the video presentations the similar structures within the background.
Consistent with studies, opposition events on the time condemned town’s heavy-handed reaction to the protesting drivers.
Screenshot of a piece of writing from 2023
The week-long strike culminated within the deaths of 5 other folks, together with a police officer, and left 1000’s of commuters stranded after buses and personal automobiles have been burnt (archived here).
The Western Cape province estimated the commercial value of the strike at more or less 5 billion rand (about $283 million) (archived here).
On-line searches failed to show any credible studies of a pregnant girl rescued by means of police from protesting taxi drivers.
Contacted by means of AFP Reality Test, South Africa’s nationwide police spokeswoman Athlende Mathe mentioned on September 1, 2025, they have been “now not conscious about this incident”.
Taxi violence
In overdue August 2025, South African media reported that minibus taxi drivers and commuters in Cape The town mentioned they feared for his or her lives, following a spate of fatal shootings within the town connected to feuding taxi associations which keep an eye on routes (archived here and here).
The new violence resulted within the deaths of 5 other folks, together with 4 drivers, and injured a number of others.
The provincial executive called on taxi operators to urgently get to the bottom of the war after a impasse heightened tensions (archived here).
AFP Reality Test debunked any other contemporary declare about taxi-related violence in South Africa.
