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South Africa's lawmakers are often seen as well paid. But what goes into their pay, and what do they do for it?

💰 What MPs earn

• President Cyril Ramaphosa has approved a 3.8% salary increase for MPs, effective from 1 April 2025.
• This means the lowest-paid MP in the national assembly or National Council of Provinces will earn R1,322,968 annually.
• The highest paid MPs will take home R3,284,911.

⚖ What MPs are paid to do 

• Make laws, enable public participation and oversee the work of the executive.
• In the 2024/25 financial year, parliament passed 28 bills, compared with 95 the previous year. 
• An expert told us the Government of National Unity may be making it harder to agree on new policies, as the parties only agreed on vague principles. In practice, major partners such as the ANC and DA both have to support new bills, and their disagreements, also seen in the delayed 2025/26 budget, can slow lawmaking.

➕ The benefits

MPs are provided with regulated “facilities” to help them carry out their duties, including:

• Travel
• Accommodation
• Tools of trade  
• Offices and support 
• Insurance

⏱ How MPs spend their time

• MPs divide their work between parliamentary sessions and constituency periods. 
• During constituency periods, MPs must be available to the people they represent and report back on parliamentary work.
• According to the 2025 parliamentary programme, 71 (or 31.7%) of 224 working days were allocated to constituency duties.

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Johannesburg- or Cape Town-based youth-led organisations: join Africa Check and the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa to counter harmful online content - while protecting free expression.

Apply: africanfactcheckers@gmail.com
Deadline: 17 Feb 2026

Let’s promote accurate information and safer online spaces together.

The misinformation brief

A weekly guide to spotting, understanding and stopping viral misinformation.

Images and videos of large crowds are often shared on social media to show support for a cause, person or political party. One viral photo, for example, claims to show supporters of South African politician Julius Malema gathered outside a courtroom in East London.   

Why is this claim spreading? In 2025, Malema was convicted on charges linked to firing a gun into the air during a 2018 birthday celebration for the Economic Freedom Fighters, the party he leads. In late January 2026, he appeared at the East London magistrate's court for a sentencing hearing. The court postponed sentencing until April.

What does the photo really show? While there was real support for Malema outside the East London court, the image circulating online is not from that event. A reverse image search shows the photo was taken at a protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in October 2025.

So what? Photos are powerful. When old or unrelated images are used out of context, it creates a false sense of reality. Crowd photos can also manipulate emotions, opinions (“If this many people believe it, maybe I should too.”) and decision making. Lastly, context matters as much as accuracy. Misinformation isn’t only about what’s false, but also about what misleads.

What should I do instead? Before sharing an image, pause and verify it. This guide has some handy tips to help you do that. 

Who checks the facts? "Behind the Facts" interviews the fact-checkers fighting misinformation.

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, despite being widely shared.  

SCAM: A viral Facebook post claims that applications are open for a Road Traffic Management Corporation traffic officer learnership programme for 2026, offering a monthly stipend and placement across South African municipalities. But the advert shows multiple red flags, and the RTMC has warned the public about such scams.

FALSE: A widely shared claim that Kruger Park rangers arrested poachers in a large operation at the popular South African game reserve is false. The news articles reporting this appear to be entirely fabricated, and park authorities say no such operation took place.  

FALSE: A clip shared on social media in January 2026 appears to show a lion pouncing on, and then hugging, a game ranger. But the video shows clear signs of being AI-generated, and one version has been labelled inauthentic by YouTube.

FALSE: A viral poster circulating on South African social media appears to show the school portraits of victims of a January 2026 scholar transport crash that killed at least 14 children. But the poster does not show the real victims and may have been generated or manipulated using AI tools. 

SCAM: A post circulating on Facebook claims that Netcare Education, an arm of the private healthcare group Netcare, is offering free nursing training for 2026. But the advert is not legitimate and shows multiple signs of being a scam.

Kenya 🇰🇪

FAKE: Digital news graphics circulating on social media in Kenya that the MP for Embakasi East, Babu Owino, plans to run for governor of Kisumu country instead of Nairobi are circulating on social media. But the graphics – and the claims – are fake.

FAKE: A graphic shared on Facebook claims that Nyali member of parliament, Mohammed Ali, said he only needs the support of Kenya's Kikuyu community to win the Mombasa governorship. But the graphic is not authentic.

FAKE: A document circulating online, supposedly from Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission, claims to summon former deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, over alleged tribal and divisive remarks. The document is fake.

Nigeria 🇳🇬

FALSE: An image circulating online appears to show a membership card belonging to Nigerian bandit leader Bello Turji, allegedly proving that he is a registered member of the ruling All Progressives Congress. But the party says the card is fake. 

FALSE: A video of Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has been shared online, where he appears to support Nyesom Wike, the minister of the federal capital territory. While there is a political crisis in Rivers state where he hails from – the video is not recent.

SCAM: A Facebook post claims that United States president Donald Trump has declared Nigeria is his next target after taking over Greenland. But we found no evidence that Trump made such a statement.

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Your weekly dose of facts in newsletter form is created by Laura Kapelari (@laurakapelari). It is edited by Lee Mwiti (@LMAfrican) and Cayley Clifford (@cayleyclifford).