South African political figure and Pan-African advocate, Julius Malema, will be disappointed in the kind of response he got to his post that sought to rally the entire African continent behind the Bafana Bafana of South Africa as they prepared to face 2026 World Cup co-host, Mexico, in the tournament-opening encounter on Thursday, June 11.

"ALL AFRICAN COUNTRIES MUST RALLY THEIR SUPPORT BEHIND SOUTH AFRICA AGAINST MEXICO TONIGHT", he wrote in capital letters in a poster he shared on Facebook.

In normal times, this would have been a great post to elicit infections and welcome smiles. On this occasion, however, xenophobia cast a spiteful slur at the message, and what followed has been anything but positive.

The post had, as of 10 am Friday, received over 65,000 reactions, 66,000 comments, and over 3,000 shares. Nearly every comment ridiculed the appeal in one way or another, with most of them expressing outright revulsion.

Elsewhere on other social media platforms, many others also responded with images of the map of Africa draped in the Mexican national colours.

The match itself turned out to be a harrowing experience for South Africa, as, apart from losing the game 2:0, the team also had the duo of Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane, both first-choice players, expelled from the game, effectively ruling them out entirely from the rest of the group games.

Many comments have also celebrated the loss as punishment for South Africa despising 'brotherhood' and calling for unity when it is convenient.

"🤣🤣🤣🤣How can we support them without ending up taking their jobs?"