Claim: South Africa’s national broadcaster reported about Ebola in Ghana
Source: Facebook user
Verdict: True
Researched by Alfa Shaban
A Facebook user, Joe Anim, published a post on Facebook on July 20, 2026, claiming that South Africa’s national broadcaster, SABC, had reported that Ghana had recorded over 2,000 Ebola cases with hundreds of deaths.
“SABC is falsely reporting on their news ticker that Ghana has recorded Ebola cases and that infections are rising. This is not merely irresponsible journalism; I believe it’s deliberate and malicious. Government should take them on,” his post read.
The post was accompanied with two screenshots of an SABC report titled “Consumers cutting back on fresh produce.” The Ebola claim was contained on a news ticker under the title, it read: Ghana’s Ebola cases rises to 2,300 & 930 deaths.”
The post had garnered 226 reactions, 173 comments and 35 shares.
In a July 21 update on the Ebola news ticker claim, Anim said it aired during SABC’s Late Edition News, but that there was no corroborating report on the channel’s platforms and also that his originating post was from an acquaintance who took screenshots from an SABC broadcast on TV.
In this report, we verify whether indeed SABC published a Ghana Ebola-related news ticker.
Fact-check
GhanaFact used a two-step approach to fact-check the claim.
- We contacted the SABC via email
- Traced SABC reports from which the news ticker was supposedly posted and analyzed their respective display interfaces.
We traced the full news item shared in the claim to SABC’s YouTube page. We identified that the two screenshots were at the 0:43 seconds and 03:19 seconds mark of the video respectively.
SABC’s YouTube interface showed that the ticker section did not have any news headlines. So it appeared as if neither the Ebola or any news headlines were broadcast on the channel.
However, we traced videos posted on SABC’s X handle, specifically on their late night broadcast, the particular interface showed an active news ticker that had headlines ranging from South Africa, Business, Sports, Africa and World news headlines scrolling. We found the Ebola claim on multiple videos posted on X (here, here, here.)
From the above, it is clear that SABC uses different interfaces for content on its YouTube page (no news scrolls) as compared with snippets posted on X and on its live stream platform (they come with news scrolls). The Ebola news ticker was duly aired.
Verdict:
The claim that SABC attributed Ebola cases to Ghana is True.
Analysis: A possible mix-up and Ghana’s reaction
At the time of publishing the viral news ticker, Ghana did not have any report of Ebola cases, instead the same statistics – 2,300 cases and 930 deaths – were attributed by multiple news outlets (here, here, here) to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which has been battling the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus since May 17 this year.
Ghana’s health ministry, following reports of the SABC claim, issued a press release to debunk the Ebola statistics claim. The release read in part: ‘‘The Ministry of Health has taken notice of a false publication circulating on social media published by SABC news channel, claiming that ‘Ghana’s Ebola cases have risen to 2,300 with 930 deaths.’
“The Ministry wishes to state unequivocally that Ghana has not recorded any case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The figures being circulated are false, misleading, and should be disregarded,” the statement added.
SABC apologises
SABC despite not responding to our email has publicly owned the mistake and apologized for same. They referenced the health ministry statement that dismissed the content of the news ticker and noted efforts the Ghana government has undertaken to deal with the Ebola issue.
“SABC news incorrectly attributing Ebola statistics to Ghana in our news scroll which is at the bottom of your screen. This happened during a broadcast last night, well SABC news says it regrets the error and apologizes for any distress or inconvenience caused,” the presenter said.
Continue Reading
