Social media warning asserts “the blacks are planning something”

An ominous warning is spreading across social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp that warns readers to stay at home on April 6th because – according to the message – “the blacks are planning something very big in PTA and JHB”.

The warning, which can be seen below in full, first surfaced in South Africa but has since spread to other locations. The PTA and JHB in the warning more than likely refer to South African cities Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Listen carefully. On the 6th April I need you to be very careful. Book off from work. Tell the everybody to stay home. The kids too.
The blacks are planning something very big in PTA and JHB and surrounding areas that day.
This is not a game. This is not just a story.
I’m connected with some very important ppl and the warnings are going out.
Have enough water and food.
Get some sort of weapon or two. Put the dog/s inside as well for protection. Don’t leave your house!
Start warning friends and family!
We believe this to be either a practice run… with destruction and death; or the the start of the civil war in this country.
Either way it’s going to disrupt everything including possibly cell phones/ALL highways/businesses etc
Let’s hope we are wrong but the Intel at the moment says we are very very right to fear
The chances of this spreading to other towns n cities is very good.
(Wees maar gewaarsku)

The warning is almost certainly a baseless, scaremongering hoax. Warnings like this are nothing new within the realms of social media, and to date no unverified social media warning such as this has ever turned out to be accurate.

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Earlier versions of this warning attributed the original source as coming from a South African civil rights organisation called AfriForum as the below graphic was circulated from user to user –

However we reached out to AfriForum who said to us –

This was not published by AfriForum. The message is false.

AfriForum also released a statement on Facebook stating (translated from Afrikaans to English) –

Following messages did the rounds, AfriForum can confirm the following: The following are distributed without the approval of AfriForum. The message contained herein is true and AfriForum distanced himself from the content.

This isn’t the first hoax of its kind. Last year social media warnings spread of a “clown purge” the night before Halloween of 2016, which came amidst the so-called “clown epidemic”. Additionally ominous warnings have circulated for years warning readers to avoid certain places on New Year’s Eve because of an anonymous tip-off from a terrorist.

In this case, given that the source of this warning has been fabricated and the warning provides no other sources or evidence to back-up its claims, this can be dismissed as a hoax.