March and March collaboration with AfriForum sparks fury among some

Civil rights organisation AfriForum and anti-immigrant group March and March Movement have sparked controversy after a meeting to form a collaborative working group aimed at tackling grassroots community safety, education, crime and illegal migration challenges.

On Tuesday, March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma met with AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel and a delegation from the civil rights group.

The two organisations agreed to collaborate on community organisation, capacity-building initiatives, the promotion of mother tongue and accessible education and the advancement of peaceful co-existence. They also plan to jointly pursue legal matters of mutual interest and support one another in fighting crime and illegal immigration.

The collaboration has drawn mixed reactions, with critics viewing the partnership as a contradictory alignment. Many have accused Ngobese-Zuma of “working with the enemy” and betraying black people, while supporters have praised the initiative as two groups joining forces to fix local communities.

Land Party leader Gcobani Ndzongana penned an open letter to Ngobese-Zuma, expressing concern that advocating for ethnic universities could cause national division and take the country back to the apartheid era.

“I fear by associating with AfriForum you are drawing on residual hate and resentment,” Ndzongana wrote. “There is little of constructive value to be learned from this group. History shows their interest in building universities stems less from necessity than from a desire to address the perception that they have contributed little to South Africa’s development.”

He urged her to reconsider her decision, describing AfriForum as an organisation lobbying US President Donald Trump’s administration to promote division within South Africa.

“Such efforts risk facilitating the recolonisation of our country. By aligning yourself with AfriForum, you risk legitimising their call for a Boer state, one that could eventually receive external military support and thereby threaten the very Zulu or Xhosa interests you seek to advance,” Ndzongana said. “I ask you to step back, reflect carefully on these associations, and reconsider the path you are taking.”

It makes no sense to go to the people who created apartheid, who have showed you how much they hate you.

—  Land Party Joburg mayoral candidate Ntsiki Mazwai

Land Party Joburg mayoral candidate Ntsiki Mazwai also cautioned Ngobese-Zuma against collaborating with AfriForum, arguing she should not seek guidance from a group that dispossessed black people of their land.

“It makes no sense to go to a person who has oppressed you and taken your land to look for leadership advice,” Mazwai said. “It makes no sense to go to the people who created apartheid, who have showed you how much they hate you. To be a truly South African community, we need leadership that is African because your institutions are more humane and inclusive.”

She urged Ngobese-Zuma to engage in discussions about how AfriForum plans to develop communities and share land, rather than seeking guidance from them.

“Those are the conversations you should be having with AfriForum, not looking for advice from people who took from us.”

Black Forum SA labelled the collaboration “a serious insult to blackness”.

“This is a pure black inferiority complex at its best,” the organisation said. “Black people should stop always volunteering their souls and selling themselves to white masters.”

Drawing a parallel between the partnership and the formation of the government of national unity (GNU), the organisation said: “To us, this is pure nonsense. Black people must cleanse their minds, break the mental chains and demand our rightful position.”

The debate continued on X.

Despite the backlash, Ngobese-Zuma said two organisations do not need to agree on everything to work together on shared interests.

“The movement believes a healthy relationship between the two entities takes into account that, while they share many issues of common interest, there are also matters on which they will disagree,” she said.

“The relationship is therefore based on mutual respect, with both parties agreeing to complement and challenge one another in pursuit of the shared objective of building a united South Africa that acknowledges diversity.”

Kriel echoed the sentiments.

“One can choose to co-operate where we agree and where we share common interests,” Kriel said.

“We cannot allow differences on specific matters to stand in the way of co-operation that would benefit our children. There are times when it is necessary to protest against the government’s failures, but it is even more important to use the hands at the end of our arms to build the future we want.”

He expressed AfriForum’s willingness to share its operational strategies with the March and March Movement and said he looks forward to the partnership.

“We look forward to working with March and March in their effort to establish a community-focused organisation that can improve the lives of ordinary people at the grassroots level.”

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