IN SHORT: South African radio host Penny Ntuli has been criticised for a video in which she dances on the side of a highway. But South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has not ordered her arrest and a video that seems to confirm this claim was likely generated using AI tools.
On 8 September 2025, Jozi FM radio host Penny Ntuli uploaded two videos to TikTok showing her and a friend dancing on the side of a highway, in the path of oncoming traffic, as large trucks and other vehicles pass by.
Ntuli was strongly criticised on social media, including by the country's Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), which said on X that it is illegal for pedestrians to be on freeways. It also warned that "Content creators should not risk their lives for 'LIKES"'.
In a subsequent TikTok video posted on 10 September, which she said was "not an apology video", Ntuli said that though her actions were "not meant to hurt anyone", they were dangerous and "there could have easily been an accident".
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A few days later, beginning around 16 September, social media users began sharing a video of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa apparently criticising Ntuli for "twerking shamelessly" and ordering her "immediate" arrest. This video has spread as far as Kenya and Nigeria, racking up hundreds of thousands of views in the process.
Africa Check found many examples of the claim shared on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and elsewhere. Several of the pages and accounts sharing the video, including some of the first to post it, claim to be news pages or outlets.
But has Ramaphosa really ordered the radio host's arrest?
No reliable evidence of calls for Ntuli's arrest
There is no indication that any South African authorities have called for Ntuli's arrest. No reliable sources have reported this claim and Africa Check could find no official announcements that authorities planned to arrest or even prosecute Ntuli. Although the RTMC said that pedestrians were not allowed on freeways, it did not call for Ntuli to be prosecuted.
The president directly ordering the arrest of an individual person would be major news. The fact that it hasn't been covered by any reliable source raises red flags.
The video of Ramaphosa has been digitally manipulated. It is likely that artificial intelligence or AI tools have been used to mimic Ramaphosa's voice and alter a real video of the president, to more closely match the movement of his mouth and face to the fake audio.
There are some tells within the video itself that something is up. If you listen closely, you'll notice that Ramaphosa's words sound somewhat stilted or clipped and don't quite match the movement of his lips. However, the errors are not so obvious that they couldn't be the result of a poorly recorded broadcast.
More telling are the president's grammar and word choices. For example, he says: "I'm ordering for immediate arrest of that female radio host." This sentence is both grammatically incorrect and avoids using Ntuli's name in an awkward way.
He also says: "I think her name is Penny Ntuli, if I'm not wrong." This suggests a surprising degree of uncertainty about the identity of the person he is ordering arrested.
All of these things should set off alarm bells, but the video might still be very convincing. However, Africa Check found one dead giveaway that the video had been manipulated to put words into Ramaphosa's mouth.
Original video broadcast weeks earlier, shows Ramaphosa speaking on unrelated topic
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A reverse image search for a frame from the video returned videos and stock photographs of a speech Ramaphosa gave in July 2025, announcing a commission of inquiry into allegations of corruption across South African law enforcement agencies.
In the official broadcast of the address, Ramaphosa can be seen wearing identical clothing and standing in front of an identical background to the manipulated video calling for Ntuli's arrest. Even small details, such as very small folds in the president's clothes, the shape of the knot in his tie and so on, match frames from the unaltered video. Some details have been altered, however, suggesting once again that AI tools were used to manipulate the video.
Compare the two videos below.
There is no evidence that an order for Ntuli's arrest has been made by the president or any other South African authority.
