• Nhlamulo Sambo was stabbed to death in KwaNonqaba at the weekend. Police say he was killed during an attempted theft from a shack.

• His mother Patricia says her son was targeted because he was Tsonga, and that a witness told the family the other boy present was spared because he was Xhosa.

A 23-year-old man appears in the Mossel Bay Magistrate's Court on Friday, in connection with the murder of Nhlamulo Sambo.

Nhlamulo was 19 years old and from Limpopo. His body was brought back to KwaNonqaba in Mossel Bay on Thursday before being taken home for burial.

Police say their investigation has found no link between his death and the anti-migrant unrest that has been burning through parts of Mossel Bay. They allege Nhlamulo was attacked while trying to steal from a shack in KwaNonqaba.

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His mother Patricia Sambo does not accept that version.

Speaking to Eden FM, she said a boy who was allegedly with Nhlamulo that night later told the family what happened. The two had hidden inside a shack. According to Patricia, the other boy was not touched.

"The other boy, they never touched him because he is Xhosa. That boy of mine, because he is Tsonga from Limpopo, was killed," she said.

She said visiting the mortuary made the loss harder to carry, not easier.

"They told me they stabbed my child here at this side of the heart, which means they knew that they were killing my son. And when they killed my son, I heard that he was explaining that he was Tsonga and had an ID. So I don't know why they killed my son," she said.

"I'm very hurt. To kill my son like a dog. I am very hurt."

The unrest in KwaNonqaba broke out last week. About 55 shacks were set alight in the Asla Park informal settlement. Two men of Mozambican descent, aged 27 and 43, were killed during the violence. Five people have been arrested in connection with the unrest.

Two appeared in court on charges of public violence and were granted bail.