South African prosecutors allege that Russia financed an attempted escape from the country by a social media influencer wanted by Benin in connection with an attempted coup in that country in December.

In court papers related to an extradition case filed in South Africa by Benin, prosecutors allege an unlikely alliance between French-born Kemi Séba, the one-time leader of a Black nationalist movement in France, with Francois van der Merwe, who heads South Africa’s White nationalist Bittereinders movement. Both are linked to Russia, prosecutors allege.

Séba, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, was arrested in Pretoria together with his son and van der Merwe on April 13 as they prepared to exit South Africa illegally over the Limpopo River into Zimbabwe, prosecutors say in the court documents seen by Bloomberg. The police masqueraded as private security hired by van der Merwe to help get Séba out the country. More than R300 000 was seized during the arrest.

South African financial authorities have been asked to help trace “the funds that Mr. van der Merwe had received allegedly from the Russians to assist with the safe escorting and transfer of Mr. Capo Chichi from South Africa to Zimbabwe,” the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, said in the documents.

Russia has provided support to military juntas in West Africa and has been tied to disinformation campaigns across the continent aimed at eroding support for the West. Séba has been accused of aiding those efforts, including through pro-Russian, anti-French online content.

Séba was to exit into Zimbabwe and fly to Europe to carry out terror attacks there and in the UK and “the information also mentioned that the person is trained by the Russians and is extremely dangerous,” the Hawks said in documents filed when Séba and van der Merwe sought bail. Both are still in custody and the court will hear Benin’s extradition case starting August 11.

Sinenhlanhla Mguni, Séba’s lawyer, said his client denies the allegations of planning attacks, disputes the alleged ties to Russia and opposes the extradition. Johan van Zyl, van der Merwe’s lawyer, didn’t respond to phone calls, text messages or emails. A phone number listed on Bittereinder’s Facebook page wasn’t answered.

Russia’s embassy in South Africa and Russia’s foreign ministry didn’t reply to emailed queries.

Benin issued an international warrant for Séba’s arrest after he praised the would-be mutineers on social media. He also faces charges there of money laundering and terrorism.

Séba has been a prominent anti-French activist in West Africa. In 2017, he was arrested in Senegal and deported after starting a social-media storm by burning banknotes to protest the regional currency’s link to France. He was stripped of French citizenship in 2024 because of alleged incitement of violence against the state. The US Department of State in 2022 accused Russia’s Wagner Group of using Séba to promote pro-Russian narratives.

Bittereinders says it “unashamedly fights solely for Afrikaner” interests. “We will be free again,” it proclaims on its Facebook site.

The group also has links with Russia. Van der Merwe attended a meeting of right-wing organisations including Germany’s AfD in St. Petersburg last year.