Decade-old image of man stoned in South Africa altered, misrepresented as 2026 xenophobic attack
- Published on July 2, 2026 at 14:15
- 4 min read
- By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa
South African police are investigating the death in June of a Malawian man who was killed during nationwide protests calling for foreign nationals to leave. Since then, social media users have circulated an image claiming to show the victim being stoned to death. But the claim is false. The photograph is unrelated to the June incident. It was taken by AFP in 2015 and has been cropped and altered to make it look different from the original.
“BREAKING: Reports emerging from Durban allege that Malawian street vendor Brian Mwanza lost his life following a violent attack believed to be motivated by anti-foreigner sentiments,” reads a Facebook post published on June 24, 2026.
The post includes a photo of a man lying in the street as another in a yellow shirt towers over him and prepares to throw a rock.
“According to reports, Brian was pushing a trolley and selling fruit when he was approached by four men who questioned why he had not returned to Malawi like others,” the post continues. “When he responded that he had a passport, they allegedly demanded to see a permit allowing him to trade. After he was unable to provide one, the situation reportedly turned violent, resulting in a fatal attack.”
Another variation of the photo -- in which the assailant is wearing a red shirt and black pants-- is also circulating online with superimposed text that reads: “How many more life’s have to be lost before this nonsense stops (sic)?”
Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Facebook and Instagram.
Malawians in SA
The posts followed an announcement by the South African Police Service on June 23, 2026 that they are investigating the killing of a 29-year-old Malawian man in KwaZulu-Natal province (archived here).
Police say a mob attacked the man who escaped but he then “slipped into the river”.
“He was found on the riverbend with a cut on the head and injuries on the mouth,” according to the statement. Police confirmed they are treating his death as murder.
The Malawian government also said it was investigating, but neither country named the victim.
Tensions have been rising for months after citizen-led groups issued a call for undocumented migrants -- whom they accuse of taking jobs and resources from locals -- to leave South Africa by June 30 (archived here). Authorities have said four people have died in the unrest so far (archived here).
However, the image circulating in 2026 was taken more than a decade ago.
Johannesburg 2015
The image was taken in 2015 by AFP photojournalist Marco Longari, who recognised altered versions of his picture circulating on social media.
Longari's original image on AFP Forum (archived here) includes a caption that reads: "A local taxi driver pelts with stones a man on the ground during a confrontation with foreign nationals in the Johannesburg Central Business District on April 15, 2015.”
The photo circulating in the June 2026 claims has been tightly cropped, and the colour of the assailant's shirt altered, from black with stripes to yellow.
His jeans, originally dark blue, were also changed to white.
In a behind-the-scenes account of the day, Longari wrote that the incident started in Rahima Moosa Street (formerly Jeppe Street) in downtown Johannesburg when a local minibus driver bumped into a foreign national and insulted him.
This enraged bystanders, who dragged the driver from his vehicle and began kicking him.
“Other South African taxi drivers intervene, and the whole thing degenerates into a street brawl with kicks, punches and stones flying,” Longari recounts in a blog.
“At one point, one of the drivers runs over to a foreigner who has fallen to the ground and hurls two paving stones at his head with all his might. Thankfully, the victim was hit with the side of the stone. He was stunned but able to get up again and seemed to have escaped serious injury,” adds Longari.
AFP Fact Check geolocated the street where the photograph was taken and matched an entrance gate and a manhole visible in the picture, confirming the altercation took place in Johannesburg and not in Durban, as claimed in the posts.
The street has undergone minor changes over the years, so we used Street View captures from 2017 to better show the similarities.
More than 15,000 Malawians had been processed for repatriation as of June 26, 2026, while thousands from Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe left before June 30, an unofficial deadline imposed by anti-immigrant groups (archived here).
Past anti-foreigner violence in South Africa has been deadly; in 2008, 62 people were killed, and at least seven in 2015 (archived here and here).
AFP Fact Check has debunked other claims related to the migration-related unrest, including here and here.
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