By Mosa Cibi
JOHANNESBURG — In late 2025, the mask of “civil rights advocacy” has fully slipped. What now stands exposed is a calculated campaign of international disinformation and economic sabotage led by AfriForum, Solidariteit, and allied right-wing formations — a project that has moved beyond domestic agitation into the realm of foreign interference.
This is no longer fringe rhetoric. It is a deliberate political strategy that has begun to materially damage South Africa’s diplomatic standing, trade access, and sovereignty — precisely the danger the ANC warned of this week when it condemned what it described as “a reckless, racist, and deliberate campaign to undermine South Africa’s sovereignty, discredit lawful state institutions, and incite fear through manufactured disinformation.”
The architects of isolation
There is a particular cruelty reserved for those willing to burn down their own home simply to prove they are holding the matches. South Africans are now confronting a movement that has consciously chosen alignment with foreign hostility over national interest.
Under the guise of “minority rights,” these actors have internationalised a false narrative of racial persecution — one that has already been comprehensively debunked (NOWinSA – Data vs Fiction) — yet continues to be recycled in Washington, Brussels, and Geneva with devastating effect.
Selling the Republic in Geneva
On November 28, 2025, AfriForum’s Ernst van Zyl addressed the United Nations in Geneva, portraying democratic South Africa as a state engaged in racial incitement and systemic persecution. (Watch their presentation here) .
This was not an isolated intervention. Similar claims were amplified by figures such as Ernst Roets in US political spaces, including Republican-aligned forums. Together, these efforts form a coordinated lobbying campaign — not aimed at reform, but at delegitimisation.
To present democratically enacted laws as “incitement” before foreign powers is not advocacy. It is the internationalisation of domestic grievance with the explicit aim of triggering external pressure.
The bitter harvest: When lies become policy
The consequences are no longer theoretical.
South Africa’s relationship with the United States is now under unprecedented strain, with sanctions legislation actively circulating in Washington (NOWinSA – US–SA relations at breaking point).
At the multilateral level, South Africa has faced escalating diplomatic hostility around the G20 — a stark contrast to how other global powers have asserted confidence through strategic engagement rather than retreat (NOWinSA – G20 delegation analysis).
Even more damaging is the threat to South Africa’s continued participation in AGOA — a move openly lobbied for by these groups, despite the devastating impact such exclusion would have on workers, exporters, and regional supply chains.
Manufacturing apartheid at home
The international campaign is mirrored by domestic psychological warfare.
From the University of Pretoria sticker stunt — where fake segregation signage was planted to simulate racial exclusion — to the grotesque 2010 “Celebration of White Genocide” featuring fabricated mass graves, these actions are designed to weaponise trauma rather than resolve injustice.
This is not activism. It is provocation as strategy.
Sovereignty breached: The foreign agent scandal
The most chilling development emerged in December 2025, when South African authorities arrested seven Kenyan nationals linked to a US-connected programme operating unlawfully on South African soil.
These individuals were processing South Africans as “ Afrikaner refugees” under a scheme rooted from the very narratives pushed by the Solidarity movement — triggering a diplomatic firestorm and deportations (NOWinSA – Refugee row explodes).
That foreign nationals could be deployed inside South Africa to advance an externally driven political agenda represents a profound breach of sovereignty — and confirms that this campaign has moved from rhetoric into operational consequence.
Conclusion: The verdict of history
How much longer can a democracy tolerate those who exploit its freedoms to actively undermine its future? These are not merely “concerned citizens.” They are the architects of isolation — actors who deploy manufactured disinformation, staged racial provocations, and international slander to weaken the very country that grants them voice and protection.
The era of polite deflection has passed. When one surveys the fake mass graves, the fabricated segregation signage, and the calculated speeches delivered before foreign powers, a clear pattern emerges: this is not advocacy seeking reform, but a political project intent on delegitimising South Africa on the world stage.
History will record that a choice was made. And it was not made in favour of social cohesion, democratic stability, or the people of this Republic. It was a choice to side with external pressure over national interest — and to treat South Africa’s future as collateral damage in a global propaganda campaign.
Editor’s Disclaimer
This opinion and analysis article reflects the views of the author and does not necessarily represent the editorial position of NOWinSA. It is published in the public interest to encourage informed debate on matters of governance, foreign policy, and democratic accountability. References to organisations, individuals, or political movements are based on publicly available statements, reported actions, and documented events. Readers are encouraged to engage critically and consult multiple sources.
