Into The Shadows: Inside Johannesburg's Underworld (Crime Documentary) | Real Stories 

Pastor Verryn is one of the Best Human beings my family and I have ever known. In the darkest times he was there for our family, and we wish him and the greater Central Methodist Family, the best in their endeavour to forge hope in the hearts and minds of the lost. Thank You Father.

I left Zimbabwe 21 years ago and never looked back. I'm living a safe and happy life in the USA.

Love how this doc was filmed, formatted and narrated. Educational and entertaining..Kudos

As an African south frican, I extremely apologise to our African brothers. Corruption in South Africa is a plague to us all. I apologise that our country has failed to receive you in a manner that upholds and protects you as a human being. Life for many south Africans despite the image potreyed in the is very hard. People go through the same struggles hence the increase of crime in this country and the drugs too. For alot of people Apartheid did not end, the system is still structured for a an African man to fail. Resistance will only be possible through unity. South Africa alone can not can not fix the issues in Africa.

South Africa is a land of extreme contrast,from such natural beauty and wealth on one hand,to such hardships on the other

I expected a documentary that would tackle the issue from all angles. We have many successful Zimbabweans in South Africa and we also have many Zimbabweans who have turned to a life of crime and are causing havoc in the City of Joburg. The migrant issue impacts migrants and locals alike. One-sided approaches won't help viewers fully understand this subject matter.

Even animals that are eaten by other animals have a better life until they die. In the end, they die relatively quickly and their death has no malice. This dying on the inside brought upon by other humans is so sad.

So painful to watch i wish I could do something for these people God please help them touch them with your might spirit hear there cry wipe away all their tears please hear and respond my prayers

The Paster is an amazing human with an intelligent mind, the words he use to explain the suffering of the Zimbabweans.. I hope the suffering will end soon..why we people are so evil and do a lot of harm to others..

May the Almighty Creator protect the poor and vulnerable. To see the look on those men's faces when they spoke of their children is heart breaking.

I send Love and Light to all these devastated souls...I wish them all the best in a way forward to make up their future. Love and Peace in the streets of Johannesburg!!!! This will be all over, Africa as a continent is rising again.

incredible documentaries on this channel. Thank you so much for sharing with the world.

perhaps the best quote on youtube @44:00 Paul Veryn "I can be violent with you, but not touch you. I can in actual fact kill you, completely, then force you to carry on living your life.". Oh God,

I'll rather be in South Africa than Zimbabwe no doubt.

These guys are just humble, polite and respectful. All I can say as a South African is that when you are a foreigner you are just at the mercy of the police and the locals, I'm saying this because I have also been a foreigner. One thing that worsens the situations for all foreigners is when one of them commits a crime, we all know what happens next, they are all punished and given that job opportunities for foreigners are very low, crime is just around the corner. But on a broader view, I blame the decisions taken by Zimbabwe, the influx of foreigners in our country is too much, we are also not doing well, and when they come to compete with the locals its obvious that that the locals will be given preference. I also think that those home affairs administrators took advantage of them simply because they are foreigners, they rarely ever ask for bribes from South Africans. The sanctions imposed to Zimbabwe by the US and its affiliates really did harm to Zimbabweans.

It is so funny how Zimbabweans complain about conditions of South Africa, Shona people killed a lot of Ndebele (descendents of Mzilikazi) in Zimbabwe during gukurahundi.

I'm from south african, KwaZulu-Natal this is a good story, Johannesburg carries lot of people of different races it hard to make a living people turn into monster and not everyone is bad their are some good people. We should all treat each other equal and love one another we brothers and sisters🇿🇦❤️

Illegal immingration is a world wide issue. This story simply breaks my heart.

The old guy with the guitar just broke my heart............

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are like rain upon the blinding dust of earth

Not just here, there are places like this all over the world. 🥺 It’s just evil! Greed and power rule. I think the immigration problem is the idea of another country being free and better but I’ve seen so many stories of immigrants regretting their decision. Truly sad!

The thing is, many people in SA are already poor, then more and more foreigners come in and look for jobs. I do understand the locals will chase them away.

Pray for Africa. Never lose hope, Africa will rise again.

This is a powerful documentary. My heart goes out to these poor refugees. They are bearing the brunt of the injustices performed on the poor of South Africa. The rich want the local working class blaming the refugees from Zimbabwe, as it acts as a release valve. The local workers need to focus their rightful anger on the rich of South Africa. They need to demand taxes on the mining industry, and use that money to build free housing for the poor. A key election promise by the ANC in 94 was to build houses. They fell well short of it. There is still time! If the mines complain, nationalise them! The black working class of South Africa has already produced opulent riches for the mine owners, it is time that they see the benefits of those riches!

South Africans need healing,the wounds of oppression are still apparent and have made our brothers and sisters in SA lose their way. We hope you'll heal before the next century.

OK, let us tackle the issue from all angles.being one of the so called black foreigners in south Africa(people from Africa ,as if south Africa is a country out of African continent ignoring just by its name ,South Africa it is nothing but a location in the African continent ) every second of this documentary has no fabricated content, every thing you see and hear is out of the every day real life in this country. Now this is how we tackle the issue from all angles.,Starting with South Africans; Due to the experience our fellow Black south Africans ( the citizens) went through during the apartheid regime, the personalities and what they real are, is the results of the oppression they went through. Few are liberated today but many are still facing the negative effects of the oppression, these many are the ignorant ones. Africans have been always migrating to the south of Africa in search of opportunities even during the apartheid regime, but during the Apartheid regime indeed there was a lot of opportunities in terms of works. But today's South African government cannot provide opportunities to its own citizens and Africans are coming like never before. These migrating Africans into south Africa are from all different classes, the upper class middle class and the low class of their societies that they are coming from in their countries, so each one of them will experience south Africa according to social class he or she is in. In concluding all these matters proves that there is a lot still need to be done for Africa and Africans to be liberated.

As a South African i want to apologize. Though it is not goingbto help a thing. Ive been crying throughout this documentary. I once saw a photo of a Zimbabwian guy fleeing with his dog. While hiking, holding it in his arms. I do animal welfare, it really touched me

I am a Namibian and we do have Zimbabwean in Namibia but we don't discriminate or beat them. They are human beings like us and they are accepted in the society like any individual. South Africans stop being racist because you don't know about tomorrow.

What an amazing man that pastor ❗️ so so sad the state of greed, selfishness & corruption by ppl in power

this feels like a couple of dads having a cup of coffee sharing stories, not like a properly researched documentary, he first said it's a one-sided country while also portraying a life story.

I couldn't finish watching this. my heart is just heavy.

I’ve had the pleasure to meet many Zimbabweans and I must say that they’re amongst the finest people I’ve ever come across during my travels. My prayers to the Zimbabwean people and praying that their country finds itself on the road to stability and prosperity.

Are there not foreigners living a lavish life in South Africa ? Are there not South Africans living in slums in South Africa? Is the police not abusing South Africans as well ? Is the home affairs also not abusing South African citizens ? Dont South Africans also que all day at goverment places ? Why do foreigners make it as if they're the only ones experiencing these difficulties? Just goes to show how unreasonable foreigners are and that's exactly the reason you are being treated this way...fucken exaggeration! Getting documents in a foreign country takes long, even years in most European countries and you expect South Africa to hand over documents to you in just a day... One Zim guy says the entire system in South Africa is nonsense , HOWS THE SYSTEM IN ZIM BROTHER ?

It is hard to understand what can be done in this situation. However, just watching those people and the lives they are trying to live is heart breaking. Think about this. Watch this. We need to think about this when we feel sorry for our lives as we climb into our clean beds at night, as we open our cupboard doors and see what we will make for supper. How often do we just really truly thank God for the luxurious lives we take so much for granted ! Oh dear Lord, we have so much and yet we take it all for granted! Forgive us, please.

You need to pay a different closed captioning company. Did no one actually watch this post captioning, pre-upload?

Sickening what this government does to people.

Great document.Thank you.

Immensely sad but infotmative!

We do feel ashamed for them especially the babies but the issue here its numbers we can't accommodate the whole continent and another neighbouring continents in such a small and developing country that's why our democracy didn't work

Theres so many dynamics to this, joburg is over crowded, south africa has nine provices but most foreigners seek assylum in jhb and pretoria, this creates problems for south africans in the cbd's.

God bless Africa, Guide our children, Guide our leaders, And give us peace, In Jesus Christs name . Amen.

But also super sad too😩😩😩

WHAT A HEART BREAKING DOCUMENTARY

This is an eye opener

I feel sorry for this Zimbabwean guy but then back in Zimbabwe the ndebele people are treated like trash just because they are from south Africa they have been killed raped murdered by Mugabe ... It's a sad thing

God Bless Africa 😢

The bottom line is ,we are all human beings. Discrimination according to which country you are coming from is unnecessary just because you were born is South Africa it should not be a big deal. Nothing is heart breaking that to see young children's suffering not enjoying life but only breathing poverty . The truth is we need one another ,lot of people are suffering in Jozi they are our brothers and sisters ....It is better to know more and judge less. This documentary help me to understand reality in South Africa, where connection speak louder then qualification.

This was interesting to know about!!!

I know many of these areas well. So I wonder why it is all filmed in black and white?

Then the other chubbier Zimbabwean guy berates South Africa of being the worst in terms of skills, corruption etc. etc. and would rather be in prison in Zimbabwe than be in South Africa. My question is, if life is much peachier at home, why are you still here berating all these struggles we have to deal with? Otherwise, I appreciated every other persons viewpoint on the documentary and how to move forward. Just that one guy who annoyed me.

i think that Zimbabwean people are more humble than there south African brothers and sisters, this is people that want to work, they can communicate well, im sure that government can help them, put them in positions to help south Africans help other south Africans my heart is so sadden that we who came out of apathied should know what its like, to be oppressed, so why do we get the joy of doing it to others. the police of all people. no man this is so sick.

zim is a SADC member just like SA, what does SADC do to address this condition

Home affairs treats everyone like that, not just foreigners. Its very corrupt.

my heart is bleeding because this is really inhumane 💔

But was it necessary for the police to take his passport!! sometimes u wonder why people live cursed lives, its some of this cruelty that they brought it upon themselves.

So terribly tragic. I hope it will get better.

2019, still the same issues. God Bless Africa and South Africa

Tears in my eyes, Live Simply, so that Others can Simply Live, OH LORD, HAVE MERCY ON THE EVILDOERS OF SOUTH AFRICA🙏

Great documentary, truly moving

This BROKE MY HEART. I am so sorry for what these people are going through. I am SO SORRY!!!

I found it fascinating and sad. I spend a lot of time here, but in Soweto, which also has a growing immigrant population and I know just as many Zims as Zulus, Xhosa, Tswana to be truthful....wondering if its maybe worth thought for those entering as an alternative situation to central Jo'burg. Soweto is used to the people from all over moving in, and is extremely diverse. Might not be a quick fix, but slightly better conditions maybe...

People need to understand that we as South Africans are barely surviving in our own land. We are still recovering from Apartheid! We have nothing to offer, we are still struggling ourselves and that is the TRUTH!

Editing the documentary into a black and white tone added a lot more weight.

I don't think the situation is as bad as it is made out to be. There are extreme examples on both sides of the spectrum. The Democratic of South Africa is more class society than xenophobic and/or racist. A lot of South African have it just as hard in their own country. If we want to be scientific about the matter then we must pull the crime statistics. They will give an indication of which nationalities, ethnic groups and races are perpetrators of various crimes. In a country governed by law the question as to why the crime is perpetrated is irrelevant, that's why the law is there is the first place, to put a distinction between right and wrong. Foreigners and Africans in general have made immense contributions before and after our democracy and they continue to do so. What we also see is that there are segments that come into South Africa to rape the system with disastrous impact on the economy, and society. That creates a lot of animosity between the nationals and the foreigners. But all in all it is not wise to generalise. Issues must be dealt with on a case by case basis, and individual by individual. A criminal is a criminal no matter the race, nationality or ethnicity.

We are all humans, and it is time that we show some humanity to our fellow beings. I pledge to be the best person I can be and to strive to help those less fortunate then myself regardless of my own circumstance. I challenge anyone reading this to do the same. Let's work together and make this world a better place for all life on this planet.

this breaks my heart... . i hate feeling like i cant do anything to change south africa, to help these people. i wish the government would for once do something right and invest money into starting up organisations that rehabilitate and train these people to do jobs to at least survive... like construction, cleaning, whatever they are wiling to do... i wish these people were treated as humans first. the problem lies with authority in this country, abusing its power... its not really the people here. we all just want the same things. no child is born a criminal, but every criminal is born a child - and South africa turns children into criminals.

Yohh these shots📸📸🔥🔥

I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself, is life worthy living or should I blast myself ....

So this is what purgatory look's like,shame on us all if this is life we should hang our head's in shame.

So so sad, helpless, sad, helpless, sad, helpless!!!!! My feeling after watching this :(

Most foreigners brough bad than good in RSA. I would say 98.5% bad and 1.5% good. Let's be honest.

The problem with foreigners , especially those who entered illegally, have unrealistic expectations that they will get to South Africa , be applauded for entering illegally, be provided with a house , a job or all luxury!!!

This is hard to swallow.... hard to swallow indeed

This is so sad.....with all the resources Africa has non of their people should live this way. God bless these men, women and children in this country. Seems Apartheid has taught nothing "but" violence.

I’m African American n I feel share dat pain wit my brothers In African hopefully one day unity

Fast forward to 2.15 to start

Shame to the zimbabwean leaders their people are scattered all over the world yet the rulers are living life in HD! This is a very painful documentary Im ashamed of south african laws it is more corrupt and the xenophobia is scary. Our system practice reverse apartheid system this time on foreigners. But I know many foreigners who don't suffer in south Africa they have businesses and they live well off. Another thing JHB is occupied by foreigners they rule and run the streets 100% population is foreigners in jhb cbd

As a South African I believe the best thing to do is to remove the borders and as SADEC we become one thing. We solve our problems as a collective.We are too fragmented and it appears we do not even like each other because of these borders which were not even created by us but colonialist.

The unfortunate ramifications of selfish leaders. Fact remains though that running away from problems does not help.

as a south african who lives in the suburbs having the best life , seeing this i've realised i have nice life problems.

this is is only foreign people related SA citezens face the same challenges u know seeking jobs and all

So the question is to Paul Verryn and others like him: is it better in the new South Africa? I know a lot of people will say but the old could not have continued. So what is the answer to the question: is it better now? Zimbabwe was given freedom and democracy and what happened: it was destroyed. What is happening in South Africa now? Is it improving? Are people more safe. I see a lot of death and destruction. I don't see any improvement - except for the anc government leaders. Some of the richest people in South Africa come from Robben Island!!

This was a very sad documentary about the reality of South Africa that is hidden by the media. That unfortunate man who was tied up and burnt, such terrorism on the streets of Johannesburg is a shameful indictment on the ruling ANC. If a government sings songs about killing people at their rallies it is no wonder that life has become so degraded. If the ANC had chanted songs of loving one's neighbors I know that South Africa would be prosperous for all given the chance.

Blame your papas like Mugabe!

The church singing at the beginning ❤🥰🥰

This is so sad what our people are doing to other people who are came here seeking help.

The gov and media are mainly concerned with Orania and taking land from farmers

South Africa is going to make Zimbabwe look like a picnic...

The fact is that these people are entering South Africa in a illegal way and that is against the law. If they don't have the legal documents they should stay away or take whatever comes to them.

So, that Zimbabwea guy said he jumped the boarder and came to South Africa Illegally and in round 2 he says Police clapped him and took his passport now he stuck here....hhay lies

So many beautiful shots

It's better to suffer in Ur own country

there is no difference from townships and city JHB foreigners.we in townships where separated by group areas act of which its impact we are still feeling today.families fighting each other for this match box houses.rich people buying them behind our backs.section 26.1and 3 not applied and these disestablishes the country cause citizens are doing land grabs.

This is very sad to watch especially there living conditions. I will never understand why they dont have running water or electricity , there so much land in africa that belongs to the people born there . why cant each village plant there own crops so there not starving and the people can manage to take care of the crops and mk sure everyone gets what they need . maybe they could sell some in the market but i know thats to much like right my heart bleeds for all of the poor people waking up hungry if i had the money i would travel the world and help people.. All u need is that paper in ur hand and u can buy anything shame its the rule of all evil and how true it is tht the one running these places live and eat good but dont do what there supposed to do with the money ... Living conditions these people must live in no fresh water .

I did not think the bloody intro was going to end....slightly too long there mate

I have been there, seen that and lived that. I am in a better space today.

Thank you for sharing. You have PTSD. Nothing to be ashamed of. The bad news is: Satan rules the world. The good news is: The Kingdom is coming & will bring world peace & security soon. Lord's Prayer, Matthew chapter 6, verse 10 (Bible)

DA is actually worsening the situation in Johannesburg.

In the attempt to destroy another, you destroy yourself. A hard lesson Africa never learns.

id your trynna tell us south africa is very dangerous you don't have too cause the world already know that 😏