FACT-CHECK: Is South Africa set to print ballot papers for the 2026 South Sudan elections?

A viral Facebook post claims that South Africa is set to print ballot papers for the South Sudan 2026 elections following a recent visit of President Salva Kiir there, but this is unverified.

“South Africa is set to print ballot papers and supply key electoral materials for South Sudan’s planned December 2026 elections, in a move aimed at supporting the country’s electoral process,” the Facebook post partly reads.

The same claim was posted by Voice of Juba [TikTok] and Voice of Juba [Facebook] accounts.

The post garnered over 2,000 reactions, 200 comments and 30 shares at the time of publishing this article.

Debunking the Claim:

A Google keyword search of the keywords in the statement, as a way of looking for whether the same words were being used by reputable and reliable sources, couldn’t return related results.

Meanwhile, the president of South Sudan met with the Deputy President of South Africa, as posted by the official page of the office of the president, but their meeting update shared online did not include printing ballot paper for the South Sudan Elections 2026, as alleged.

Our Verdict:

The ClarityDesk finds the claim that South Africa is set to print ballot papers for the South Sudan election to be unverified.

This article is published by The ClarityDesk, with the support of the Election Civic Tech Fund of AfricTivistes, within the AHEAD Africa and Digitalise Youth projects, led by the Digital Democracy Initiative.

Have you spotted an error in this article and would like to request a correction, or have you come across a claim that we should investigate? Please send us an email via editor@claritydesk.org or click here to WhatsApp us via +211 928 606 958.

About The ClarityDesk

The ClarityDesk is a media integrity project based in South Sudan dedicated to promoting truth, transparency, and accountability. Working at the intersection of fact-checking, solutions and data journalism, we verify claims, debunk misinformation, and equip the public with tools to critically evaluate information. Our work is guided by accuracy, independence, and the public interest.