South Africa: The Viljoens - From 'Real Housewives Fame' in South Africa to U.S. 'Shoplifting' Bubbly

12 March 2026
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
By Caryn Dolley

Melany and Peet Viljoen are no strangers to the limelight. And to controversy. The South African couple featured in a local reality TV show, they back the 'white genocide' lie, and they moved to the US... where they now face charges for allegedly stealing items including bubbly and toilet paper.

"America is good to us!"

This is what Peet Viljoen posted - complete with a little icon of a US flag - on his Facebook page on 31 December 2025.

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Accompanying the post is a video of him explaining in Afrikaans that he and his wife, Mel - Melany Viljoen - are happy in America and plan to stay there.

Peet says the situation in South Africa won't change, and also makes it clear in the video that "almal weet van white genocide." (Everyone knows about white genocide.)

He's referring to the lies about white Afrikaner residents being violently targeted in South Africa - disinformation that US President Donald Trump has peddled and the basis for America's Afrikaner "refugee" programme.

But now, barely three months after exclaiming that "America is good to us", the situation is different for the Viljoens.

Shoplifting charges

They have been detained in the land of the free, on shoplifting-style charges in Florida.

But first, a few details.

The Viljoens are household names in certain South African quarters, for various, and not necessarily good, reasons.

According to local court papers and US police documents, their full names are Petrus Jacobus Viljoen and Melany Joanita Viljoen....

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