The March and March AfriForum partnership is probably one of the more unexpected civil-society developments South Africans have seen this year.
On 18 August 2026, March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma sat down with AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel and representatives of the two organisations. What followed was more than a photograph or an informal conversation: the organisations announced the formation of a collaborative working group and identified several areas in which they could potentially work together.
Those areas reportedly include community organisation, education, safety, the rule of law, crime and illegal migration. The organisations have also agreed that they could pursue legal matters together where their interests overlap.
For some South Africans, the meeting represents something positive: two organisations with very different histories finding common ground.
For others, it raises uncomfortable questions.
Why does March and March want AfriForum’s help? What does AfriForum gain from working with a movement that has rapidly attracted national attention? And could this be the beginning of something much bigger than cooperation on a few community issues?
There are no proven sinister motives behind the partnership. But considering how quickly March and March have grown in visibility, asking what each organisation stands to gain is fair.
Table of Contents
1. Why Did March and March Approach AfriForum?
Perhaps the most important context is that Ngobese-Zuma has not tried to hide her interest in AfriForum’s organisational model.
Before the meeting, she said March and March wanted to learn from AfriForum’s advocacy strategies, including how the organisation builds institutions, raises funds and organises itself.
Earlier in August, Ngobese-Zuma went even further.
When discussing the newly established SA First Forum, she confirmed that the intention was to build something comparable to AfriForum for Black South Africans. She argued that an independent civic organisation could potentially serve people differently from a traditional political party and spoke about eventually developing institutions such as schools.
That changes the context of the meeting considerably.
March and March wasn’t simply approached by AfriForum out of nowhere. Its leadership had already publicly identified aspects of the AfriForum model that it wanted to study.
2. What Exactly Did the Two Organisations Agree To?
According to AfriForum’s statement following the meeting, representatives discussed cooperation around several grassroots issues.
These included:
- Community organisation: exploring ways communities can become more organised and self-reliant.
- Education: an area in which both organisations have expressed interest in community-based solutions.
- Safety and crime: identifying areas where their community concerns overlap.
- The rule of law: potentially supporting initiatives aimed at government accountability.
- Illegal migration: an issue that has become central to March and March’s public identity.
- Legal action: the organisations said they could pursue legal matters of mutual interest.
Importantly, cooperation does not mean the organisations have suddenly become identical.
Reports following the meeting indicate that both sides acknowledged their differences while identifying issues on which they believe cooperation is possible.
That distinction matters.
3. What Does March and March Stand to Gain?
From March and March’s perspective, there is an obvious strategic advantage.
AfriForum has existed since 2006. Over that period, it has developed experience in advocacy, fundraising, litigation, community campaigns and institution-building.
March and March, by comparison, is a much newer movement.
It has demonstrated that it can mobilise people and attract national attention. But turning protest momentum into a sustainable civil-society organisation requires something different.
Street mobilisation can make people listen.
Building an institution requires funding, legal expertise, administration, organisational structures and a long-term strategy.
Ngobese-Zuma appears to recognise that distinction.
The creation of the SA First Forum also suggests March and March is considering what comes after the marches. The organisation says it does not intend to become a political party and instead wants to expand its influence through civic and legal structures.
Learning from an organisation that has already built such structures could therefore be a calculated strategic decision rather than an ideological endorsement.
4. What Does AfriForum Gain From the Relationship?
This is where the March and March AfriForum partnership becomes particularly interesting.
Much of the discussion has focused on what Ngobese-Zuma can learn from AfriForum.
But partnerships usually involve two parties seeing value.
March and March brings something different to the table.
It is a newer movement that has attracted considerable public attention around illegal immigration and the frustrations some South Africans have about unemployment, public services, crime and pressure on communities.
It also operates within a constituency very different from the one historically associated with AfriForum.
That raises a reasonable question:
Could cooperation with March and March allow AfriForum to broaden the audience for some of the issues it has long campaigned around?
There is currently no evidence proving that AfriForum is attempting to take control of March and March or exploit its popularity.
That distinction needs to be clear.
But it is reasonable to consider whether AfriForum sees strategic value in demonstrating that concerns it frequently raises — including crime, government accountability, community self-reliance and the rule of law — can find support outside its traditional base.
AfriForum says its motivation is cooperation between communities and that it is willing to share lessons accumulated over roughly two decades.
Whether the relationship develops beyond that remains to be seen.
You May Also Be Interested In: Inflation Rate Falls to 4.3%: 5 Promising Signs for Households Struggling With the Cost of Living
5. Could Both Organisations Simply See an Opportunity?
There is another possibility that deserves consideration.
Perhaps both sides believe the other has something they need.
March and March has momentum.
AfriForum has infrastructure.
March and March has demonstrated an ability to mobilise supporters around a highly contentious national issue.
AfriForum has years of experience turning advocacy into organised campaigns, court action and community structures.
Seen through that lens, the relationship becomes less mysterious.
March and March could learn how to transform public support into a sustainable institution.
AfriForum could demonstrate that some of its campaigns can attract cooperation from organisations representing communities beyond its traditional constituency.
That does not necessarily make the partnership dishonest.
Civil-society organisations regularly cooperate where their interests overlap despite disagreeing elsewhere.
But South Africans should still pay attention to how the relationship develops.
6. Why the Public Reaction Matters
The partnership has already produced criticism and debate.
Some people see dialogue between organisations from different backgrounds as healthy. One argument is that South Africa’s problems are too serious for organisations to refuse to speak simply because they disagree politically or historically. Commentary defending the engagement has similarly argued that dialogue between different civil-society groups is part of democratic participation.
Others are far more sceptical.
Reporting following the announcement described anger and questions about the political motivations behind the collaboration.
Those concerns shouldn’t simply be dismissed.
AfriForum remains a deeply contested organisation in South African public debate, while March and March’s campaigns around undocumented immigration have themselves generated intense controversy.
Bringing the two together was always going to attract attention.
But disagreement over the meeting also exposes something larger about South African politics.
Traditional political labels may not always explain emerging alliances.
Organisations can disagree profoundly on history, identity and ideology while finding themselves on the same side of specific questions involving government performance, immigration enforcement, crime or community organisation.
7. What Can We Expect Watch Next
One meeting doesn’t tell us what this relationship will ultimately become.
The more useful approach is to watch what happens next.
Will the working group actually produce community projects?
Will March and March adopt AfriForum-style fundraising or membership structures?
Will SA First Forum begin bringing significant cases before the courts?
Will AfriForum and March and March jointly challenge government decisions?
And perhaps most importantly, will cooperation remain limited to a handful of shared issues, or gradually develop into a deeper strategic relationship?
Those actions will reveal far more than speculation about what might have been discussed behind closed doors.
There is also an important accountability question for March and March.
As the movement grows, supporters are entitled to understand who it partners with, how its organisations are funded and whether those relationships affect its priorities.
The same principle applies to AfriForum.
Transparency becomes more important, not less, when organisations begin exercising greater public influence.
8. Final Thoughts
The meeting between Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and AfriForum should neither automatically be celebrated as a breakthrough nor condemned as evidence of some hidden conspiracy.
There simply isn’t enough evidence for either conclusion.
What we do know is significant enough.
March and March has publicly acknowledged that it wants to learn from AfriForum’s organisational model. The two organisations have now established a working relationship covering several areas of shared interest, despite obvious differences between them.
The real question may therefore not be why Jacinta met AfriForum.
She has largely answered that herself.
The more interesting question is what happens when a rapidly emerging grassroots movement meets an established civil-society organisation with two decades of infrastructure, legal experience and advocacy behind it.
Perhaps March and March gets the blueprint it needs to move from marches to institutions.
Perhaps AfriForum gains an unexpected partner capable of extending certain campaigns into communities it has historically struggled to reach.
Perhaps the collaboration produces very little.
Or perhaps both organisations have recognised that, despite their differences, each possesses something the other currently lacks.
For now, South Africans don’t need to choose between blind trust and immediate suspicion.
They can simply keep asking the most important question:
What does each side gain — and what will they actually do with this partnership?
9. Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma?
Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma is the founder and prominent public face of March and March, a South African civic movement that has gained attention through demonstrations and campaigns focused particularly on illegal immigration and the enforcement of the country’s immigration laws.
Why did March and March meet with AfriForum?
Ngobese-Zuma has publicly explained that March and March is interested in learning from AfriForum’s experience in areas such as community organisation, fundraising, advocacy and institution-building. AfriForum has been operating for approximately two decades, giving the organisation considerably more experience and infrastructure than the relatively new March and March movement.
Is March and March joining AfriForum?
No. There has been no announcement that March and March is becoming part of AfriForum or that the two organisations are merging. The agreement announced so far involves cooperation in areas where they believe they share common interests.
The organisations also continue to have different backgrounds, constituencies and positions on various issues.
Is AfriForum funding March and March?
There is currently no credible public evidence establishing that AfriForum is funding March and March. Unless either organisation discloses such an arrangement or reliable evidence emerges, claims that AfriForum is financially backing the movement should not be presented as fact.
Leave a Reply