FALSE
A viral photo purporting to show a Mozambican woman being arrested in Johannesburg in 2025 was actually taken during a 2019 Cape Town refugee protest. Africa Check traced the original image to news coverage of the Waldorf Arcade refugee camp removal. The photo was recycled to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment.
In 2025, a dramatic photo spread on social media with claims it showed South African police arresting a Mozambican woman in Johannesburg during immigration crackdowns. Africa Check's reverse image search traced the photo to October 2019 coverage of police removing refugees from a protest camp near Cape Town's Central Methodist Church. The photo had been stripped of its original context and repurposed for anti-immigrant narratives. This pattern of recycling old photos with false new captions is common in South African xenophobia-related misinformation.
The Viral Claim
The photo showed a woman being restrained by police officers. Captions claimed it showed a "Mozambican woman arrested in Joburg" during 2025 immigration enforcement [1].
The image spread rapidly on WhatsApp, Facebook, and X/Twitter, often accompanied by anti-immigrant commentary [4].
The Actual Origin
Reverse image search traced the photo to October 2019 news coverage of Cape Town police removing refugees from a protest camp near Waldorf Arcade [6].
The original context: refugees had been protesting for resettlement to other countries and were removed by police after weeks of occupation [3].
Pattern of Misattribution
Africa Check has documented multiple instances of old photos being recycled with false captions to inflame anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa [1].
This technique exploits emotional impact while evading accountability - viewers assume they're seeing current events [15].
Conclusion
The viral "Mozambican woman arrested" photo is a recycled 2019 image with a fabricated 2025 caption. The original photo was from a Cape Town refugee protest, not a Johannesburg immigration arrest. This case exemplifies how old images are weaponized for current xenophobic narratives.