A cynical and reckless stunt by AfriForum Youth

The fake “No whites allowed” signs affixed to gates at the University of Pretoria (UP) was a clever piece of marketing by the youth arm of AfriForum. But, it was cynical and reckless.

Cynical because those who put it up would have known the average South African does not engage brain before putting mouth (or keyboard fingers) into gear. They knew many angry white people would take it as a fact and attack the UP authorities and moan about the plight of white people.

ALSO READ: AfriForum’s sticker stunt backfires as University of Pretoria to take action against students

Reckless because this unthinking piece of propaganda disturbed already fragile race relations. The university’s response was clumsy, allowing groups like the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to feel they were being singled out and to, in turn, play their victim card.

AfriForum didn’t help matters when its officials tweeted as though the signs were genuine. While there have been race tensions at UP – following EFF attempts to bar white students access recently – this “protest” did more harm than good.

ALSO READ: AfriForum Youth accuses EFF students of discriminatory intimidation

Those who got fooled won’t acknowledge their gullibility but will double down with the argument that the protest sentiments were correct anyway…

This incident may be regarded as minor in the grand scheme of things – with our country collapsing economically and the Middle East devoured by war – but it should be a warning to thinking people of the dangers of social media and the way it can spread misinformation and hate virally in a matter of hours.

One recent example was a video purporting to be Israeli forces using white phosphorus weapons in attacks on Gaza – but which was actually of Russians doing it in Ukraine.

ALSO READ: AfriForum’s application for judge’s recusal ‘politically motivated’

The hero of many right-wingers, X owner Elon Musk, believes “legacy” media will die and be replaced by platforms like X. If that’s the future, humanity is in deep trouble.