Via a publication on her Facebook profile this Monday, June 21, journalist Gaëlle Borgia said that populations in the south of the country, in the grip of extreme poverty, are forced to eat their shoes to survive. This information, questioned by local authorities and the World Food Program, ultimately seems to be “fake news”.
In her publication of June 21, the journalist Gaëlle Borgia, international correspondent, in particular of France 24, in Madagascar directly challenged the President of the Republic by affirming that the misery of the population would force some to eat their shoes (zebu skin ). Given its appalling nature, the news has gone viral on social media.
The denial of the World Food Program and the Governor
Very quickly, this information was denied. The representative of the UN World Food Program said that in times of scarcity he had observed the consumption of foods such as cactus fruits, but had never seen the consumption of leather.
For his part, the governor of the region of Androy, Soja T. Lahimaro, noted that it was incompatible with local beliefs, that it was a cultural food ban, and that consequently a such an allegation was insulting to southerners. This publication also aroused a great deal of outrage among the population.
A corrupt witness?
The veracity of this practice being questioned, it remains to understand the motivations. Was the journalist the victim of manipulation? Is she behind a scene when she is known in Madagascar to be virulent towards the government? Videos are circulating on the internet, which show residents of the south of the island saying that they have been offered a sum of money in exchange for testimony validating the journalist’s comments.
If this is not to deny that the health situation in southern Madagascar is worrying – and for the first time in the history of the country, a major conference was held last week with all the actors concerned ( State, communities, civil actors), in order to find common solutions. – this kind of image does nothing to help the situation, and questions the respect for journalistic ethics by international correspondents and the international press. The latter, at a time when false information is proliferating on the internet, must be scrupulously respected.
