WATCH | Malema blasts xenophobia — says Africans, not foreigners, are victims of SA’s broken economy

Malema

Johannesburg – EFF leader Julius Malema told Nigerian lawyers in Enugu that foreign nationals are not to blame for South Africa’s problems, arguing that unemployment and inequality stem from an untransformed economy still controlled by a white minority and multinational corporations.

He condemned xenophobia as “a betrayal of African unity” and called for greater Pan-African integration, including harmonised trade policies, visa-free travel, and continental economic cooperation.

“Let me be unequivocal here, xenophobia is a betrayal of African unity, it is a sickness born out of poverty, inequality, and government failure.

“But its victims are our African brothers and sisters; Nigerians, Zimbabweans and Congolese, and Somalis are not the cause of South Africa’s unemployment problem.

“The cause lies in the untransformed economy of South Africa, which remains in the hands of the white minority and multinational corporations who continue to exploit labour while refusing to industrialise,” he said.

Malema emphasised that South Africa and Nigeria should lead efforts to build an Africa united by shared struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

He urged Africans to see each other as one people and reject xenophobic violence.

“We must educate our people that unity and not division is the solution to the African crisis.

“If we want to end one-way migration, where Nigerians are forced to leave home in search of opportunity in South Africa, then we must integrate our economies.

“Young Nigerian engineers should be able to work in Johannesburg, Gaborone, Windhoek, Harare, Cairo, and Accra.

“Not as foreigners, but as Africans contributing to Africa,” he said.

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