South Africa's Film and Publication Board (FPB) has refused to classify the US film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America”, which means it cannot lawfully be broadcast, distributed, exhibited or sold in the country, including online. According to published coverage, the refusal has now been gazetted.
The board found that the film advocates hatred based on group characteristics and incites harm, and that it cannot be treated as a documentary. Anyone who knowingly distributes or sells it can face a fine of up to R500,000, up to five years in prison, or both.
The board's reasons
According to the board's reasons as reported, the film contains dehumanising language, falsehoods and prejudicial statements aimed mainly at Jewish people. The board said it denies the Holocaust, uses antisemitic tropes and includes racial slurs. The notice, issued under acting chief executive Makhosazana Lindhorst, lists what it describes as five major falsehoods.
How the case reached the board, and the penalty
The film was made by American Ronald Dalton Jr, released in 2018 and went viral in 2022, according to the coverage. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies says it was alerted in June 2023 after a screening at the Soweto Theatre and presented the case to the FPB in June 2024, when Dalton appeared to defend the film. The refusal was first communicated in December 2025, the coverage says. Wendy Kahn, the board of deputies' national director, welcomed the outcome.
The correct legal term is “refused classification” rather than a ban. Knowingly broadcasting, distributing, exhibiting, selling or advertising the film is an offence under section 24A(2)(b) of the Films and Publications Act, punishable by a fine of up to R500,000, up to five years in prison, or both.
What we do not yet know
- The exact date of the board's decision and of the gazette notice.
- Whether Dalton or free-speech groups will challenge the refusal. We have not seen a response from either.
- How the ban will be enforced online.
