Ukraine President Zelenskyy didn’t buy a controlling stake in mining company, despite online claims

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn’t buy a controlling stake in a South Africa-based mining company, but a video spreading on social media could lead some users to believe otherwise. 

“He has purchased a controlling stake in Northam Platinum LTD,” a narrator said in what looks like a segment from South African broadcaster SABC News, pronouncing each letter of the abbreviation for “limited.” “One of South Africa’s leading platinum mining companies.”

The text at the bottom of the video, which includes an “SABC News” logo, says: “Zelenskyy purchased a controlling stake in Northam Platinum Ltd.”

SABC stands for the South African Broadcasting Corp.

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A Northam Platinum Holdings Limited spokesperson told PolitiFact in an email that the claims in this video aren’t true. A Northam spokesperson told fact-checker Lead Stories that Zelenskky acquired no stakes in the company. 

SABC News told PolitiFact the post and video are “fake news.” In an April 4 X post, the outlet said “SABC News distances itself from the publication and distribution of fake news” and shared an image of another X post with the purported SABC News report. The words “fake news” appear stamped in red across the image.

Searching its news website, we found no stories mentioning Zelenskyy and Northam. 

At one point in the video, the narrator claims that an “SABC crew” interviewed one of Northam’s miners, but the miner’s purported remarks about Zelenskyy don’t track with the movements of his mouth. 

We rate claims this is an authentic broadcast False.

UPDATE, April 7, 2025: This story was updated to include comment from SABC News.