Venda security officer’s identity questioned in viral video after isiZulu language struggle

A recent incident involving a Venda security officer employed by SBV has exposed an unsettling undercurrent of prejudice and identity questioning in South Africa. An ordinary workday for a Venda security officer employed by SBV took an uncomfortable turn when he was allegedly stopped and questioned by a Zulu-speaking person who questioned his nationality because he had trouble speaking isiZulu fluently. A man is seen inquiring about the security guard’s hometown in a video that has since gone viral.

“Why do you care where I’m from? You want to see my ID?” Mukhethwa Dzhugudzha, a social commentator and activist, toldIOLthat the incident reflects deeper societal tensions that extend well beyond questions of immigration enforcement. “Let’s be honest, if a Venda man can be called a foreigner in his own country because he does not speak IsiZulu then this is not just about illegal immigration because if this was truly about documentation then South Africans would not be attacked and humiliated simply for speaking the wrong language.” He said that what is unfolding reflects a deeper social fracture.

“This is how Afrophobia mutates into tribalism. Xenophobia, Afrophobia and tribalism are all cousins.” Dzhugudzha warned that such attitudes risk widening divisions within the country. “First the target are Zimbabweans, then Mozambicans, then Nigerians.

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Then suddenly it becomes Venda people from Limpopo or Tonga people or Peri people. Anyone whose accent or language sounds unfamiliar.” Political analyst Zweli Ndevu linked such incidents to linguistic dominance within certain mobilisation spaces. “Remember that people who are leading this movement around xenophobic issues and all of that are mostly people from KwaZulu-Natal most of them speak only Zulu or their language understanding is limited to Zulu and therefore anything that is outside of Zulu would be seen as foreign. So that’s the reason they might be doing that.” He added that tensions could intensify in the coming weeks.

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