What appears to be a poster from South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) is doing the rounds on social media, calling for a march against illegal immigrants - as well as small-scale miners, and rapists.

The country has been shocked by the gang rape of eight women who were shooting a video in an abandoned mine dump on 30 July 2022. Scores have since been arrested, but all currently face charges of being in the country illegally. A major police operation is also underway.

The poster, in the ANC's colours and with its logo, calls for protest action on 3 August.

As the party in power, the ANC would be expected to come up with the solution to this, as opposed to taking to the streets. So is this poster authentic?

Users question protest march by ruling party

The poster has been widely shared on Facebook, where it has attracted hundreds of comments, according to CrowdTangle, Meta's social insights tool.

Other accounts on platforms such as Reddit expressed disbelief that the party was marching, given that it controls the levers of power.

"So the ANC is marching against its own policies," one user commented under a post. Other users echoed this sentiment.

In late July, at the party's sixth policy conference, home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the ANC government needed to develop a "policy direction" on immigration. He conceded there was political pressure to do this ahead of the 2024 elections.

But the poster is legitimate. On 2 August the party shared the poster on its verified Facebook page.

"Join the protest against #illegalimmigrants #zamazama & #rapists on Wednesday 3 August 2022 outside Krugersdorp Magistrate Court from 8 am. Calling for law enforcement to shut down illegal mines," the caption reads.

The party's branches have also shared the poster, while the ANC's spokesperson spoke at the march.

Zama Zama is shorthand for illegal artisanal miners.

Other users posted video clips of marching party members.