Mossel Bay protests: Chirwa, Ngobese-Zuma clash over Tsonga teen’s murder

Nhlamulo Sambo was stabbed on death on Sunday, May 31, in KwaNonqaba, Mossel Bay. The fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Nhlamulo Sambo in Mossel Bay has sparked a heated public exchange between Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Naledi Chirwa and March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, as debate intensifies over immigration, tribalism, and political rhetoric in South Africa. Western Cape police are investigating the killing of Sambo, who died after being stabbed during an altercation in KwaNonqaba on May 31.

Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Christopher Spies said officers found the teenager with a stab wound to the chest after responding to a complaint. The suspect has yet to be arrested,” said Spies. Police have not confirmed a motive, and investigations are ongoing.

However, Sambo’s family believes he was targeted during unrest linked to anti-foreigner protests and mistaken for a foreign national because he spoke Xitsonga. “They killed my son like a dog, saying that he was a foreigner, whereas my child is a Tsonga, a South African citizen from Limpopo in Giyani,” his mother, Nkateko Sambo, said in a video shared online. His sister, Nonhlanhla Sambo, alleged that he was removed from a house where he had been sleeping before being killed.

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“My 19-year-old little brother was stabbed to death on the 31st of May during the xenophobic riots/protests in Western Cape Mossel Bay. His fault was being Tsonga in a Xhosa community,” she wrote on Facebook. The incident prompted Chirwa to accuse anti-immigration activists of fuelling violence through inflammatory rhetoric.

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