Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma Fires Back at African Countries After Bafana Bafana's World Cup Qualification

Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma Fires Back at African Countries After Bafana Bafana's World Cup Qualification

  • Prominent South African activist Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma fired back at African countries after Bafana Bafana qualified for the round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup
  • She claimed South Africa had become the first African country to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup without the support of other African nations
  • Her comments come amid ongoing xenophobic tensions in South Africa, where her group March and March has set a June 30 deadline for illegal immigrants to leave

Prominent South African activist Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has fired back at African countries following Bafana Bafana's progression to the round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, March and March, South Africa xenophobia, Bafana Bafana qualification, June 30 deadline, South Africa World Cup 2026
Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma takes a swipe at African Countries After Bafana Bafana's World Cup Qualification. Image credit: Jacob Zuma/Bafana Bafana (Instagram & X).
Source: Instagram

South Africa's national team defeated South Korea by a single goal in their final group stage game to secure qualification.

The result marked a significant turnaround for the team, which had faced doubts about its chances of advancing after a difficult start to the tournament.

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Following South Africa's first game of the tournament against Mexico, Jacinta had already lashed out at African countries that cheered on Mexico, questioning what they had gained from supporting a non-African nation over South Africa.

She said:

"You see, supporting Mexico still didn’t fix your country. You’re still not Mexican; you’re still from a country that is underdeveloped!"

Jacinta's Facebook post about Africans gaining nothing from hate-watching South Africa is below.

Jacinta Zuma takes aim at African countries

After Bafana Bafana secured their place in the next round, the activist took to her Facebook page to fire another direct swipe at African countries that had not backed South Africa throughout the group stage.

According to Jacinta, South Africa's qualification represented a historic moment achieved without the goodwill of fellow African nations.

Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, Bafana Bafana World Cup, South Africa round of 32, March and March, xenophobia South Africa, 2026 FIFA World Cup
South Africa's win over South Korea sparks jubilation as Jacinta Zuma hits back at African countries. Image credit (X).
Source: Twitter

She posted on Facebook:

"South Africa have made history and become the First Ever African country to Qualify to the Round of 32 without the support of other African countries."

The Facebook post of Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma's taking a swipe at African countries, is below.

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South African activist group demands jobs for locals

Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma's comments are set against the backdrop of ongoing controversies surrounding xenophobic tensions in South Africa.

Her group, March and March, has been at the forefront of protests against undocumented immigrants in the country.

The group has set a deadline of June 30, 2026, for undocumented immigrants to leave South Africa, with a protest planned for that day.

Other unidentified activist groups have gone further, confronting businesses directly and demanding that foreign workers be replaced with South African nationals, even without a CV.

The leader of one such delegation said:

"We are not here to ask guys. Let me emphasise, we are here to demand these jobs. All these people are South African nationals and they are not employed because of you employing foreign nationals. We don't want money, we don't want anything. We just want these people to be employed. That is going to happen today, whether we give you a CV or we don't."

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The Twitter (X) video of the activist group confronting the company about employing South African workers is below.

Police issue warning ahead of June 30 protest

According to an earlier report by YEN.com.gh, South Africa's acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia issued a stern warning to Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and the March and March group ahead of their planned June 30 protest.

The minister confirmed that R600 million had been set aside for the police response on the day and that the military had been placed on standby for a possible deployment.

While acknowledging the right to peaceful protest, the minister made clear that any attempt to incite violence or harm foreign nationals would be met with a firm response from law enforcement.

Source: YEN.com.gh

Authors:
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Ben-oni Blay (Entertainment Editor) Ben-Oni Quao Blay is an Entertainment Editor at YEN.com.gh with a Master's degree in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Cape Coast. He has over five years of experience in SEO content creation, digital publishing, and audience analytics. Before joining YEN.com.gh, he served as Lead Content Creator and Writer at the International Filmmakers Association (Germany), where he covered film and entertainment. He holds Google certifications in Digital Marketing and SEO. Contact him at benoni.blay@yen.com.gh.