Nigerian Businessman Shot Dead Outside His Shop in Witbank

Musa Yunana Joe, a Nigerian businessman popularly known as “Big Joe,” was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside his shop in Witbank, Mpumalanga Province, on June 28, 2026. His killer has not been identified. His death lands amid rising anti-migrant tensions and heightened security concerns gripping South Africa, and it has since drawn condemnation from Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its consulate in Johannesburg, both of which have called for urgent investigation and justice.

“Human life has lost value. Please pray for South Africa.”

Big Joe’s death did not happen in isolation. It happened while foreign nationals across South Africa are being hunted, driven from their homes, and in growing numbers, killed — by mobs who often act on suspicion alone, with no proof, no trial, and no mercy.

Documented firsthand accounts gathered directly through Makumbirofa Farms’ advocacy network, alongside verified reporting from multiple provinces, point to a disturbing and escalating pattern: immigrants and, in several tragic cases, South African citizens mistaken for foreigners, have been killed in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, and Limpopo since anti-migrant marches intensified earlier this year.

Documented Cases

Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal: A Malawian man fleeing a mob attack was found dead by a riverbank after apparently trying to escape into the water. Police are treating the death as murder.

Mossel Bay, Western Cape: Two Mozambican nationals were killed amid violent anti-foreigner unrest that also left dozens of homes destroyed.

Mossel Bay, Western Cape: An 18-year-old South African of Tsonga descent, Nhlamulo Sambo, was stabbed to death. His family says he was mistaken for a foreigner and killed out of hatred for his ethnicity — an account police dispute, saying he was caught attempting a theft. The family’s version has not been independently confirmed, but it reflects the climate of fear now gripping communities who fear being misidentified.

What these cases share is a chilling common thread: correct documentation offers no protection. Being South African offers no protection, if a mob decides — wrongly or otherwise — that you look, sound, or live like a foreigner. Suspicion has become a death sentence, and bloodthirsty mobs have appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner in a country meant to be governed by law.

This is not justice. This is not order. This is the collapse of the basic value that every human life is worth protecting — a collapse that dishonors South Africa’s own hard-won history of dignity and reconciliation, and that will not solve the economic and social grievances driving this anger in the first place.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Genesis 9:6

We call on the South African Police Service to urgently identify and prosecute those responsible for the killing of Musa Yunana Joe and for every other death recorded in this wave of violence. We call on political and community leaders across the country to speak against this bloodshed clearly and without qualification. And we call on the people of South Africa, and all who love this land, to remember that no grievance justifies a mob deciding who lives and who dies.

Human life has lost value in the eyes of too many. Please pray for South Africa.

By Collen Makumbirofa

Note: Details regarding the circumstances of the Nhlamulo Sambo case remain disputed between his family and police; both accounts are presented above for transparency. Figures on the broader toll of xenophobic violence reflect verified reports available at time of publication and may be updated as investigations continue.