DRC President Dancing with His "Third Wife"? Is It True?
Short answer: no. A video claiming to show DRC President Félix Tshisekedi dancing with a woman calling herself the president's "third wife," surrounded by real-world political figures, went viral in August 2026. Eleza Fact confirmed it's AI-generated — and the presidency itself issued a formal denial.
UncovAI is an AI content detection platform that checks text, images, video, and audio for signs of AI generation — one of three independent tools used to confirm this video was synthetic.
The claim
On August 19, 2026, a video went viral showing a woman, later identified as Mathy Mayela (also referred to as Maguy Mayela), standing outside the Cité de l'Union Africaine in Kinshasa, publicly declaring herself "the wife of the president" and refusing to leave. Days later, a second video — captioned "third lady party" — began circulating, purporting to show this same woman dancing rumba with President Tshisekedi at a lavish event. The fabricated footage also placed several real public figures among the seated guests, including Donald Trump, Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, and DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa, with musicians Fally Ipupa and Koffi Olomide shown performing.
The clip spread fast: a TikTok upload from an account with 4.4 million followers hit 439,500 views within days, and a Facebook repost from a 621,000-follower page reached 888,000 views in three days. TikTok's own system flagged the content as containing AI-generated media.
Is it real?
No. Eleza Fact submitted the footage to three detection tools. UncovAI returned 99% confidence that the video was AI-generated — while separately assessing the audio track itself as 100% confidence human speech, indicating real audio may have been paired with fabricated visuals. Deepfake Check classified it as high risk, with a 95% AI-risk score. Hive AI put the probability of AI-generated or deepfake content at 99.9%, and attributed a 48.3% match to the "gptimage1_5" generation model.
The presidency issued a formal denial
On the same day the first video appeared, the Civil House of the DRC presidency published an official statement, communiqué N°001/PR/MCCE/CMCCE/BMN/001/2026, stating that the woman is entirely unknown to the presidential family and has never had any relationship with the head of state, past or present. The statement, reported by Média Congo and Africa News DRC, also noted that information gathered from her family indicated she was going through a period of psychological distress.
Her family publicly addressed the situation as well. In a video shared by the outlet Voice of Congo, a man identified as her brother-in-law apologized on the family's behalf for the incident at the presidential grounds, describing it as a health matter rather than what people were speculating, and reaffirmed that she has no connection whatsoever to the president.
The pattern here
This case combines two separate things into one viral moment: a real, documented incident of a woman making a public claim outside a government building, and a fully fabricated video built afterward to give that claim a fake, elaborate "confirmation." The multiple real public figures shown attending gave the fake video a veneer of credibility it wouldn't have had otherwise. Eleza Fact's own conclusion is worth repeating as a general rule: when content shows public figures in an unusual situation, checking the source, context, and authenticity before sharing is the step that catches this kind of fabrication before it spreads further.
Frequently asked questions
Did President Tshisekedi really dance with Mathy Mayela at a party?
No. Three detection tools confirmed the video is AI-generated, and the presidency's Civil House publicly denied any relationship between Tshisekedi and the woman shown.
Who is Mathy Mayela?
A woman who publicly claimed to be the president's wife outside a government building on August 19, 2026. The presidency and her own family both stated she has no relationship with the president.
Did the fake video really show figures like Donald Trump?
The fabricated video depicted several real public figures among the fictional guests, including Donald Trump, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and Judith Suminwa — none of whom attended any such event.
Source
Eleza Fact, "Faux : cette vidéo montrant Félix Tshisekedi danser dans une prétendue soirée avec Mathy Mayela a été générée par IA," August 31, 2026. Analysis included UncovAI, Deepfake Check, and Hive AI.
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