One of South Africa's most prominent anti-immigration campaigners is facing questions about government money flowing the other way. A News24 investigation reports that Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, leader of the March and March movement, and her husband, attorney Xolani Zuma, were linked to nearly R12 million in government contracts and payments since 2021, most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.
The largest item identified is a 36-month contract awarded to XJ Family Enterprise — a company directed by both — by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, for farmer support and development work. It is valued at R10.5 million over three years, with R3.5 million allocated for 2026/27. The investigation, drawing on National Treasury procurement data, tender portals and expenditure reports, also points to about R1.31 million in legal-services payments to Zuma and Partners Inc., where Xolani Zuma is sole director, and R118,000 to Sodelwa Trading from the provincial sport and recreation department.
The scrutiny centres on the tension between those contracts and the couple's public posture: March and March and the allied SA First Forum have threatened litigation against the government over immigration enforcement. Ngobese-Zuma declined to give detailed answers, accusing the publication of distraction and falsehoods; her husband said he would respond after publication.
News24's reporting stresses that holding government contracts does not by itself establish wrongdoing. The open questions, it says, concern the procurement process, eligibility and whether the work was delivered.
