South African couple Melany and Peet Viljoen revelled in the limelight. Melany featured on the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Pretoria. And Viljoen styled himself as a legal eagle. But all wasn’t as it seemed. The couple perpetuated the lie that there is a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa, with Afrikaners being violently targeted. So they moved to the US, where they were arrested on shoplifting charges. Daily Maverick’s Caryn Dolley explains. 

Reporting by: Caryn Dolley 
Edited by: Joel Seboa 
Filmed by: Joel Seboa 
Produced by: Emilie Gambade 
Creative lead: Malibongwe Tyilo 
Sub-edited by: Kevin Flynn

Read more: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-03-12-the-viljoens-from-real-housewives-fame-in-sa-to-us-shoplifting-bubbly/

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