South African opposition leader and President of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema, has strongly denounced xenophobia in South Africa, describing it as a betrayal of African unity. Speaking in Enugu as keynote speaker at the 2025 Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Malema also called for deeper economic cooperation between Nigeria and South Africa, stressing that the continent’s prosperity hinges on the partnership and industrialisation of its two largest economies.
Malema urged African nations to avoid what he described as “debt traps” from international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He warned that excessive foreign borrowing places the continent’s future at risk, committing unborn generations to obligations imposed by today’s leaders. “The debt trap of Africa to our foreign colonisers must be stopped, and that begins by regulating these loans that our leaders commit future generations to, because they will not be there when the colonisers come to collect,” he declared.
The EFF leader restated his party’s radical vision of a borderless Africa with a single parliament, currency, and military command, urging Africans to reclaim their land, resources, and future from external control. He paid special tribute to Nigeria’s role in South Africa’s liberation struggle, recalling the sacrifices of Nigerian workers, students, and governments that supported the anti-apartheid movement. “Nigeria is not just another African country to us. It is a comrade nation that stood firmly by our side during our darkest hour when South Africa was shackled by apartheid… We cannot forget those who stood with us when it mattered most,” Malema said.
He also reminded participants that Nelson Mandela’s first international visits after his 1990 release from prison included Lagos and Abuja, where he personally thanked Nigeria for its solidarity. According to Malema, this historic bond must evolve into tangible economic collaboration.
Highlighting the paradox of Africa’s resource wealth and economic struggles, Malema lamented the continued export of raw materials to Europe, America, and Asia, only for them to return as finished goods at inflated prices. He urged Nigeria and South Africa to industrialise jointly, envisioning collaborations that merge South Africa’s mining expertise with Nigeria’s oil wealth to create African-owned conglomerates. “Imagine Nigeria feeding the continent while South African technology drives logistics and machinery. That is the Africa we must build,” he told the gathering.
Malema praised cultural and economic exchanges already linking the two countries, from South African businesses such as MTN and Shoprite thriving in Nigeria, to Nigerian music, film, and literature shaping South African society. However, he cautioned that xenophobic attacks in South Africa continue to undermine these ties. “Let me be unequivocal: xenophobia is anti-African unity, we must educate our people that unity, not division, is the solution to the African crisis. A Nigerian in Johannesburg or a Ghanaian in Cape Town is not a foreigner but an African contributing to Africa’s progress. In the same way, South African entrepreneurs must be welcomed in Lagos as partners in a shared future,” he emphasised.
The EFF leader further called for visa-free travel between Nigeria and South Africa, harmonised trade policies, and pan-African infrastructure projects to accelerate integration. He situated this agenda within a broader global struggle, expressing solidarity with oppressed peoples in Western Sahara, Palestine, Cuba, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Citing South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, Malema criticised what he termed the hypocrisy of international justice, which acts swiftly against leaders in the Global South while ignoring violations by Western powers and their allies. “If the so-called international community is unwilling to deliver justice in real time, then Africa must advance its own courts, its own tribunals, its own instruments of solidarity,” he insisted.
Malema closed his address with a call for continental pride and self-reliance. “We are not a dark continent. How can we be dark when we have diamonds that shine among us? Together, Nigeria and South Africa can lead Africa into a future where we are not beggars but giants, not divided tribes but one people. Our salvation will not come from Washington or Brussels, it lies here, in Lagos and Johannesburg, in Abuja and Pretoria, in the hands of Africans who refuse to be divided.”
