South Africa’s Viral “Mistaken For A Foreigner” Story — What Really Happened?

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Zonga people, Zonga people, Zonga people of the world, whichever [music] part of the country you are in, this is for you.

[00:00:10]>> A 19 years old boy was dragged from his bed in the dead of night, pleading for his life in his native language, Tonga.

[00:00:18]But to the furious mob outside, his words didn't make any meaning.

[00:00:22]>> Turns out we are not safe anymore in South Africa. I'm taking this.

[00:00:28]My homeboy was killed like a [music] dog because they confused this person to be a foreigner in South Africa. But to the furious mob outside, his words didn't sound like a local South African. And within minutes, his life [music] was violently taken on the street. I want to say condolences to the Sambbo family who have just lost their 19year-old son in Shamolo who has been killed in the recent riots.

[00:00:58]>> This is the chilling story of Tamuru Labber Sango that has completely set South African social media on fire.

[00:01:05]>> Guys, if you've enjoyed this video so far, please do me a huge favor and hit the like button and subscribe. These videos take quite a long time to make, so if you could help me out, I'll love you forever. Thank you all for your support. Now, let's get back to this crazy story. The viral headlines scream a terrifying warning that an innocent South African citizen born and raised in Diani Limpopo was executed by his own country met in Mosul Bay simply for speaking Tonga, exosa dominated neighborhood. They claim he was murdered because a mob mistook him for an undocumented foreign national.

[00:01:44]>> Zonga people, Zonga people, Zonga people of the world, whichever part of the country you are in, this is for you.

[00:01:54]Turns out we are not safe anymore in South Africa. I'm taking this my homeboy was killed like a dog because they confused this person to be a foreigner in South Africa. the strike that was happening recently. You understand? I don't know what's going to happen next, but we need justice for this boy. I am so heartbroken. I am so scared because something similar happened to me before I got the car. And I'm glad I didn't I have it on chat. I told my husband that I'm in this I'm inside this Uber and this guy before I got inside, he asked me if I'm Zulu or I'm from outside the country. And when I told him that, no, I'm not from outside the country and I'm not Zulu. He was like which which language do you speak?

[00:02:37]I'm like I'm like yeah like that's what he said. And my husband was like no please do not mention that you are married from this country and do not mention anything. Just tell him that ah no sorry my brother just take me wherever that I'm going. And I was feeling uncomfortable throughout the the the trip because this typical Zulu man kept talking and talking and talking about how bad this thing is going to get, how much he is willing to do that and that and that to make sure that every in the country goes. But now I'm taking this video my brother I'm going to say my brother because he's killed like a dog because they confused this person to be a foreigner.

[00:03:24]So, what needs to be done now? What do we do now? What do we do? What do we do? H what's going to happen now? I was never going to take a video concerning all the things, but it's really getting out of hand. And I'm also feeling uncomfortable because my my my little brother is somewhere in in in Johannesburg. What if the same thing happens to him?

[00:03:49]What if the same thing happens to him?

[00:03:51]They they they they they ask him to speak and then he starts speaking in song and then they're like, "No, now now we go." And then they kill him.

[00:03:59]People, what do we do?

[00:04:02]What do we do? I I'm so angry. I LIKE OH, [snorts] I'm boiling right now. I don't even know what to do. The way I'm And I I'm I'm sure this video will make a whole a whole lot of nothing. Like maybe zero sense. But what do we do now?

[00:04:18]Our brother was killed because they they confused him to be a foreigner.

[00:04:26]>> What should happen now? What should happen?

[00:04:28]>> But is this horrific narrative exactly what it seems? Or has a deep community tragedy been hijacked, spun and weaponized by the internet grave vine to ignite a dangerous tribal war. Now to understand why the story blew up so fast, you have to look at the incredible fragile social climate in South Africa right now. So the country man has been grippled by intense debate over immigration, community-led shutdowns and vigilante operations targeting undocumented migrant. Now for several weeks they've I mean said that they're not xenophobic. I mean they don't underive people which from the initial stage I believe them. All right. I believe them and I even sided with them until recently. I mean stories started coming out even when the Ghanaian evacu came some of them showed us scars on the body scars of canes on the body. That was when I started asking them really so it means this thing is true let me do a deep research and my deep research has I mean revealed a number of incidents I don't want to put it out here because I don't want my broadcast to look like I'm against South Africans. I'm a journalist and I have to I mean cope with the codes and ethics of journalism. So some of the things I don't have evidence there is no need putting it out. I won't put it out unless I have an evidence. But let's talk about this story. Okay. So when the emotional post surface featuring a young man's face alongside claim from his alleged family members as seen in the chat. So that was the first time I saw the video. I mean the mother a video from his mother.

[00:06:02]>> Hi South Africa. I'm Kate Patricia [ __ ] from Lio. I'm the mother of Nava [ __ ] who has been killed by ru people here in Mosal Bay western cave.

[00:06:17]They killed my son like a dog saying that he's a foreigner whereas my child is a a South African citizen of Limbo at Gani. I am very painful and hurt as I'm saying I'm speaking now because here I am right now I'm not working they kill my child now I should take the body home took I should bury my child on Saturday please South Africa help the fellow South African >> some community members who were also present at the scene when the incident happened >> so yesterday a 19-year-old Tonga boy was killed amid xenophobic rights. And that has had me thinking about xenophobia in South Africa. The xenophobia in South Africa, particularly in the black community, um is very much afrophobic because when we think of immigrants from other countries, particularly white immigrants, we don't pay them as much mind or assume that they're legal. But once someone has darker skin, because the immigrants that get the most flack are those from Zimbabwe and Nigeria and those countries are known to have darker skinned people. It's it's a massive problem in that case. Dark skin has now kind of been attributed to, oh, you're not from here. But people who are from me, I have dark skin. And as South Africans, we are aware of this that we come in all races, shapes, colors. So this like afroofobia within xenophobia has also victimized groups who are citizens of South Africa.

[00:08:01]There's also so many analogies and experiences of Tonga people being mistaken as foreigners for their dark skinned and having experienced xenophobia as a result of that despite being South African. The prevalence of xenophobia within South Africa is just quite ridiculous in the sense that xenophobia is just wrong. Also in the sense that it's quite ironic as it comes back and victimizes people who are are actually citizens of South Africa. Truly, when someone's being xenophobic, there's no time for you to pull out your ID card or your passport to say, "No, yes, I am South African." They're unfortunately gonna do what they want and say what they want which we've seen unfortunately. May he rest in peace. The thought also arises that many people may only sympathize with this case and only call for justice for him and converse about it because he happens to actually be South African and not from another country. as if the atrocities within a South African being killed and not a person, a human being killed. And this directly relates to the content of June 30th. South Africans are just thrilled to kick out all the illegal illegal immigrants, but that deserves its own conversation.

[00:09:24]>> I'm so disturbed.

[00:09:26]Yeah, I'm super super disturbed.

[00:09:30]So a South African boy was murdered yesterday in Western Cape because people had mistaken them to be a foreigner.

[00:09:41]Even if he was a foreigner, why kill?

[00:09:43]Like when and how did we get to this point?

[00:09:48]Personally, I've been supporting this movement simply because I thought it was against illegal immigration and I thought it's a peaceful protest. I'm sorry, but this doesn't make sense.

[00:10:01]This thing of judging people because of their skin color, look at someone and immediately conclude that they're not South African because they black skinned. It's so absurd. It's It sounds It's so crazy to me.

[00:10:15]Okay, before I start this video, I want to say condolences to the Sambbo family who have just lost their 19year-old son in Shamulo who has been killed in the recent riots in Mosul Bay. We have been saying that there's no way you can identify who is South African and who is not because black South Africans look very much similar to their brothers that come from other African countries.

[00:10:58]In addition to that, we have been saying that you cannot take the law into your own hands. You are not trained to be law enforcement.

[00:11:12]At the same time, we have been saying that any form of discrimination, hatred or singling out of black people based on how they look and say that they are foreigners is going to cause problems.

[00:11:38]I myself particularly have said that with violence that is towards Africans, it will eventually come home and now we are in this sad day where somebody has been killed and the person that has been killed is a South African. Not that it makes it any better if that person was an African coming from another African country.

[00:12:14]How many more people are supposed to die for [snorts] this madness to stop?

[00:12:22]And by the singling out of Africans and us [clears throat] as black people transferring our frustrations with government, our frustration with joblessness, our frustration with immigration towards our black African brothers, how will that solve any of our problems?

[00:12:51]Now, if you love this country and you're a person who believes in peace, a person who believes in order, a person who believes in law, you'll understand why we shouldn't be taking the law into our own hands in any small form or any big way.

[00:13:21]Because innocent people are going to get killed.

[00:13:27]Innocent people are going to get hurt.

[00:13:34]You may rejoice at this, but it's actually very sad. So when all of this came together, in fact the internet erupted, the text alleged that the mob was doing that thing where they say they were chasing away foreigners and they on live the guy. So after listening, you live in South Africa.

[00:13:57]Was this a manipulated story or it is the reality? Did what is happening happen? Did the story actually happen?

[00:14:06]Leave your comments in the comment section. is around for today. Shouting that he was a Shangan. And within hours, thousands of users began sharing the hashtag