By Tanya Pampalone, Rasmus Bitsch and Eliot Moleba• 22 June 2021
Nombuyiselo Mntlane mother of 14-year-old Siphiwe Mahori, who was shot dead by a foreign spaza shop owner, at her home in Snake Park. (Photo: Oupa Nkosi)
In 2015, a wave of xenophobic attacks spread across South Africa. That year, the spark was the death of 14-year-old Siphiwe Mahori, who was shot dead by a Somali shopkeeper in Johannesburg. This is the autopsy of a young boy’s death, unravelling how the media, the police, the justice system, the community, the township economy, and politicians – from the local councillor all the way up to the office of the president – fuel the violence that continues to be meted out on foreigners, even in the midst of the pandemic.