In the wake of the ongoing xenophobic attacks against black African immigrants in South Africa which has so far resulted in 5 casualties and dozens of injuries, Julius Malema has suggested that people’s anger should rather be directed at white people while blaming them for the chaos.
Taking to his Twitter page on Tuesday, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader accused the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party of protecting white people who he claims own their wealth and don’t want to share with them.
“Our anger is directed at wrong people. Like all of us, our African brothers & sisters are selling their cheap labour for survival,” he shared.
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“The owners of our wealth is white monopoly capital; they are refusing to share it with us & the ruling party #ANC protects them. #OneAfricaIsPossible.”
In another tweet, Malema also appeared to blame white people for the ongoing crisis.
“I think these whites must for a second keep quiet because we are dealing with a mess created by them. They are the ones who created this situation by telling us that we are poor & unemployed because ”foreigners” took our jobs. We are fighting for cramps [sic].”
His party’s Twitter account also concurred, sharing old videos of him reiterating those same sentiments.
“We must protect each other as Africans. We must at all times remember, WE ARE ALL AFRICANS! #StopXenophobia,” they shared in one tweet.
“We must unite against the common enemy, these borders were imposed on us by the colonialists who continue to own majority of our resources and control the means of production. That’s the real enemy. #StopXenophobia,” another video was captioned.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the attacks.
“I’m convening the ministers in the security cluster today to make sure that we keep a close eye on these acts of wanton violence and find ways of stopping them,” the president said.
“There can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries.”
Some South Africans, including high-profile members of the government, have, in the past, justified taking measures against the growing number of foreigners who they believe would soon take over the country if nothing is done.
“The whole of South Africa could be 80% dominated by foreign nationals and the future president of South Africa could be a foreign national… How can a city in South Africa be 80% foreign nationals? That is dangerous,” said the Deputy Minister of Police, Bongani Michael Mkongi in 2017.
However, immigrants in South Africa are actively contributing to the growth of the South African economy by engaging in and creating businesses while paying value-added tax which is generating revenue for the country.
