On 7 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported an unknown pneumonia outbreak. Sub-Saharan Africa only reported its first cases in mid-February, with some travellers from or returning mainly from Italy, but also Germany and France. It was only then that the media in South Africa started to report extensively about the COVID-19 outbreak. Various governmental ministries in South Africa or Lesotho informed their population about COVID-19 and their regulations to control the outbreak of the disease. Although most of the information was in English, a substantial amount of audio and video files were available in African Languages in South Africa, plus many governmental announcements in Sesotho in Lesotho. Governments were aware of the risks of fake news being spread, but they tried to be as transparent as possible with the public. This paper intends to analyse and see how different African countries like Lesotho and South Africa broadcasted COVID-19 in media, official government website and social media platforms. The usage of languages will be analysed as most African countries are multilingual, and such life-threatening topics and far-reaching political interventions in all spheres of life should be communicated as inclusive as possible.
