South Africa’s Bafana Bafana played out a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic in their World Cup group match on Thursday, yet the most telling action unfolded not on the pitch but in bars and on social media across the continent. In a Nairobi sports bar, Kenyan fans clenched their fists with delight at every South African misstep, while Ghanaian influencers had already urged their millions of followers to back Mexico in the tournament opener. The result left South Africa with a single point from two matches, but the isolation they felt came from fellow Africans.

That hostility is a direct spillover from months of anti-immigrant mobilisation inside South Africa. Fringe groups have set a 30 June “deadline” for undocumented foreigners to leave, a call amplified by a toxic online ecosystem that analysts say has been deliberately built over six years. Videos threatening violence, AI-generated fake government notices, and disinformation about migrant crime have hardened public attitudes: a 2025 survey found only 15 per cent of South African adults would welcome all foreigners. The government has repatriated 2,745 people in a single week, while Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique and Malawi have received hundreds of returning citizens. Thousands more, including Nigerians stranded without shelter awaiting delayed evacuation flights, remain in limbo.

Viewed from other African capitals, the backlash has turned the World Cup into a vehicle for protest. “We want to show South Africans that their actions have consequences,” said Fatma, a 34-year-old farmer in Nairobi. Ghanaian content creator Wode Maya joked that the whole continent had become “Afro-Mexican” after the 2-0 defeat to Mexico, while another influencer, Eric Boateng, posted that South Africa “can only attack Ghanaians living in their country.” Even a senior official of the Confederation of African Football initially lashed out on X, telling the team they could not “mistreat Africa and expect a blessing,” before walking back his words. A minority of fans, like Edwin, a Kenyan communicator, still back the side as an African team, refusing to “judge any country in the name of a minority.”

The South African Football Federation has denounced the “online harassment” and “offensive messages” directed at its players. Goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams admitted the controversy is taking a toll: “You want to focus on your job, which is being a footballer, but they end up dragging you into politics, a place you really don’t want to be.” The team’s predicament is compounded by US visa restrictions that have kept many African supporters away from the tournament altogether, forcing sides like Senegal and Ivory Coast to rely on local diaspora communities. For South Africa, that diaspora is now deeply fractured.

Bafana Bafana next face Norway on 22 June, needing a win to keep their knockout hopes alive. The match will test whether a squad already buffeted by continental anger can find any semblance of home support, or whether the stands will again reflect a region that feels its hospitality has been betrayed.