Nhlamulo Sambo was stabbed on death on Sunday, May 31, in KwaNonqaba, Mossel Bay.
Image: Facebook/Nonhlanhla Sambo
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.
"He was declared dead by paramedics on scene. 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.
"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.
"We warned countless times. Xenophobia/afrophobia only has one conclusion, bloodshed!" she wrote.
Chirwa argued that government failures were being blamed on vulnerable groups and questioned slogans such as "Fusek Shangane", saying they contribute to division and hostility.
She further rejected the notion that migrants are responsible for South Africa's economic challenges.
"Migration did not create poverty in South Africa. Migration did not create unemployment. Migration did not create inequality. Capitalism did. Imperialism did," she wrote.
Drawing on previous outbreaks of xenophobic violence, Chirwa argued that attacks on migrants have never solved unemployment, poverty, or inequality.
"The greatest deception sold to poor people is that another poor person is their enemy," she said.
The EFF MP later directly linked Sambo's death to what she described as tribal and anti-African rhetoric.
"A child died! An innocent child was purged due to the fire you caused," she wrote.
"A Tsonga child of this soil lost his life because you so sorely believed that ‘foreigners leaving’ will come with economic freedom."
Ngobese-Zuma strongly rejected the accusations, accusing Chirwa of using the tragedy for political purposes before all the facts surrounding the case had been established.
"You are using this incident for your own political gain without waiting," she wrote.
The March and March leader argued that Chirwa was unfairly targeting activists while failing to hold the government accountable through Parliament.
"You sit there in Parliament and do not hold him accountable," she said, referring to Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.
Ngobese-Zuma also rejected claims that opposition to illegal immigration should automatically be viewed as xenophobia or afrophobia.
According to her, undocumented migration is linked to labour exploitation and the use of cheap labour by businesses.
"If you were genuine about your cause, you wouldn't be advocating for cheap labour and romanticising it," she wrote.
She further argued that immigration laws must be enforced and cited Section 42 of the Immigration Act, which deals with aiding and abetting illegal immigrants.
"What we can agree on is any person that commits a crime must be dealt with," she said.
The exchange eventually descended into personal attacks, with both women questioning each other's leadership credentials and political motives.
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