Anti-SA sentiment hits Bafana camp with unprecedented online abuse: ‘It hurts’

In Atlanta

The FIFA World Cup dream of a generation, whose core comprises players who were youngsters the last time the team featured in the global showpiece in 2010 on home soil, has turned into a nightmare due to South Africa’s current anti-immigrant posture and Bafana Bafana’s poor start.

FIFA’s social media protection service revealed that Bafana Bafana players have experienced unprecedented levels of online abuse since the World Cup started.

READ | ‘There was not even VAR on Messi!’: SAFA to appeal Themba Zwane’s three-match ban

The body added that the combined incidents of abuse online that they have picked up at this year’s World Cup have already surpassed the figures recorded in the entire tournament in Qatar four years ago – just a week into the showpiece that kicked off at Azteca Stadium on 11 June when Bafana lost 2-0 to Mexico.

This was revealed at the National Centre for Civil and Human Rights in the capital city of Georgia, just a few kilometres from Atlanta Stadium - where Bafana will take on Czechia on Thursday, which happens to be the International Day for Countering Hate Speech.

Bafana’s poor performance in their 2-0 loss to Mexico in the opening match of the tournament lit the first flame of online abuse.

However, the South Africa’s anti-immigrant posture has added petrol to that flame - burning Bafana players, with captain Ronwen Williams among its worst victims, receiving abuse from his countrymen and those angry at South Africa.

The actions of the vigilante group March and March, which describes itself as “a grassroots citizen movement addressing growing concerns about undocumented immigration in South Africa”, have directly impacted Bafana, with a number of Africans across the continent “hate