South Africa’s Anti-Immigration Leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, Husband Linked To Nearly R12million In Govt Contracts

The Ngobese-Zuma’s March and March campaign also triggered a wave of voluntary repatriations as several African governments scrambled to protect their nationals ahead of the June 30 deadline.

The leader of South Africa’s controversial anti-immigration movement, March and March, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, and her husband, attorney Xolani Zuma, have been linked to government contracts and payments worth nearly R12 million (about N965,950,800) despite their public campaign against the South African government.

According to an investigation by News24, the contracts were awarded to businesses controlled by the couple, including XJ Family Enterprise, while Xolani Zuma’s law firm, Zuma and Partners Incorporated, also received payments for legal services from government departments.

The findings have raised questions about a possible conflict of interest, particularly as Ngobese-Zuma’s March and March movement and the SA First Forum have publicly threatened legal action against the government over illegal immigration.

The Ngobese-Zuma’s March and March campaign also triggered a wave of voluntary repatriations as several African governments scrambled to protect their nationals ahead of the June 30 deadline.

At least seven African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, engaged South African authorities over the repatriation of their citizens.

Nigeria, in particular, carried out multiple evacuation flights, bringing at least 1,490 Nigerians back home between June 10 and July 15, 2026, amid growing fears over xenophobic attacks led by Ngobese-Zuma’s March and March movement.

The evacuation came after March and March and other anti-migrant groups issued an unofficial June 30 deadline for foreign African nationals to leave South Africa, a demand that was rejected by the South African government.

The South African government specifically had said that Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique and Zimbabwe came forward to arrange repatriation, while Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo subsequently made requests.

Thousands of African foreign nationals fled South Africa before the June 30 deadline, and on June 30, the group carried out violent protests across the country, attacked and destroyed properties and businesses of foreign African nationals.

The investigation was based on National Treasury procurement records, government expenditure reports and state tender portals.

One of the biggest contracts identified by the investigation was a three-year agreement awarded by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to XJ Family Enterprise for farmer support and development.

The contract, according to the investigation, is worth R10.5 million over three years, with R3.5 million allocated to the company during the 2026/27 financial year.

Company records show that XJ Family Enterprise was registered in September 2024, with Ngobese-Zuma and her husband listed as its directors.

The company was registered less than a year before the agricultural department advertised the tender in June 2025.

The investigation also questioned the extent of the couple’s experience in agriculture in relation to the multimillion-rand farmer-support contract.

Xolani Zuma, however, purchased a farm in KwaZulu-Natal for about R2 million in 2022, according to property records cited in the investigation.

Apart from the agricultural contract, Treasury procurement records showed that Zuma and Partners Incorporated, a law firm solely directed by Xolani Zuma, received more than R1 million in legal-services payments from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The payments were made through seven transactions between the 2024/25 financial year and the current 2026/27 reporting period, with most of the money reportedly paid during the 2025/26 financial year.

Ngobese-Zuma has also previously benefited from government-related payments through her events company, Sodelwa Trading.

According to the investigation, the company received R118,000 from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation for an advertising contract in the 2021/22 financial year.

Sodelwa Trading also received R20,000 from the national Department of Sports, Arts and Culture under a COVID-19 relief programme during the 2020/21 financial year.

The findings come as Ngobese-Zuma has emerged as the public face of March and March, a movement that has mobilised against migrants in South Africa, and accused the South African government of failing to protect citizens.

The movement has also threatened to challenge the government in court over immigration-related policies.

The apparent contradiction between the couple’s business dealings with the state and the movement’s political campaign against the government has prompted questions over whether the contracts should be subjected to further scrutiny.

According to the investigation, Ngobese-Zuma reportedly dismissed the questions on the findings of the investigation and challenged the publication to substantiate its claims.

She later posted the journalist’s questions on social media, including his telephone number.

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) subsequently condemned the publication of the journalist’s personal details, saying it amounted to an attempt to intimidate and harass a journalist carrying out work on a matter of public interest.

SANEF called on Ngobese-Zuma and her supporters to stop intimidating journalists reporting on March and March and its leadership.

The controversy has further intensified scrutiny of the financial and political networks surrounding March and March, whose leadership has increasingly become influential in South Africa’s heated debate over immigration and government policy.

Earlier investigations had also linked the movement to individuals with political and business connections to former South African President Jacob Zuma, although there is no evidence that the former president personally directed the contracts identified in the latest investigation.