South African food production company Unilever, commercial bakery Sasko and rice producers Tastic are closing down production, as a result of the coronavirus lockdown across the country.
“PLEASE .. go stock up ur rice, sugar and groceries for a month or two… As I’m in the mills and they slowly shutting down production,” begins a WhatsApp message Africa Check received on 22 April 2020., It claims that food production company Unilever, commercial bakery Sasko and rice producers Tastic are closing down production on Friday – but doesn’t say which Friday., “Rice warehouses are empty in Durban, and no import permited, Plz share with family n friends, got it from a friend in Durban working at Unilever,” the message ends., It’s also been repeatedly shared on Facebook since 22 April., South Africa’s hard lockdown to control the Covid-19 outbreak is set to last until at least 30 April. Until then everyone in the country, except essential workers, must stay at home and only go out “under strictly controlled circumstances, such as to seek medical care, buy food, medicine and other supplies or collect a social grant”. (Note: President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that there will be some relaxation of these conditions from 1 May 2020.), The lockdown has led to businesses being closed and production stopped in most sectors of the economy., Food production has been allowed to continue. But are Unilever, Tastic and Sasko now ending production as well? We checked., Africa Check asked Unilever, Sasko, and Tastic if the message was true., “Our attention has been drawn to a recent WhatsApp message, which states that our production facilities are shutting down. Please note that this rumour is not valid. We confirm that Unilever is providing essential services and is open for business,” said a representative from Unilever’s customer engagement centre., Representatives at Sasko and Tastic also told us the claim was false., Tiger Brands, which owns Tastic, tweeted a statement on 23 April describing the message as “incorrect” and “alarmist”., “We are aware of a WhatsApp message circulating factually incorrect news about facility closures,” it said. “This info is false and unnecessarily alarmist.”, Our obsession with our consumers ensures we remain transparent on any developments.\nTo curb the spread of fake news, our website and social media accounts remain the sole authoritative source for all updates. #NourishAndNurture pic.twitter.com/ImuDWfjU2c, — Tiger Brands (@TigerBrands) April 23, 2020, , The current lockdown regulations allow businesses producing “essential goods” to continue to operate., “During the lockdown, all businesses and other entities shall cease operations, except for any business or entity involved in the manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service,” the regulations say., The regulations’ definition of essential goods includes “any food product, including non-alcoholic beverages, but excluding cooked hot food.”, So Unilever, Sasko, and Tastic are allowed to continue producing food throughout the lockdown. – Naledi Mashishi, , "A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”. What should you do? First, dont delete!", Click on our guide for the steps you should follow., Publishers guide, Africa Check is a partner in Facebook’s third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media., The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it., You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how., Africa Check is working with the CoronaVirusFacts/DatosCoronaVirus Alliance, a coalition of more than 100 fact-checkers fighting misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic., Learn more about the alliance here., , © Copyright Africa Check 2020. Read our republishing guidelines.\xa0You may reproduce this piece or content from it for the purpose of reporting and/or discussing news and current events. This is subject to: Crediting Africa Check in the byline, keeping all hyperlinks to the sources used and adding this sentence at the end of your publication: “This report was written by Africa Check, a non-partisan fact-checking organisation. View the original piece on their website", with a link back to this page., We depend on voluntary donations to run this site. Please help us to keep public figures accountable by supporting the project., Find out more, For democracy to function, public figures need to be held to account for what they say. The claims they make need to be checked, openly and impartially. Africa Check is an independent, non-partisan organisation which assesses claims made in the public arena using journalistic skills and evidence drawn from the latest online tools, readers, public sources and experts, sorting fact from fiction and publishing the results., , Get a weekly dose of facts, straight to your inbox.
Unilever, Sasko, Tastic NOT closing, still making food during South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown | Africa Check