A South African politician and freedom fighter, Julius Malema, has Nigerians, Ghanaians, Malawians and other African migrants are not the enemies of South Africans.

He noted that both the attackers and those attacked were victims of the same global system of inequality and exploitation.

There have been repeated xenophobic attacks on African migrants in South Africa leading to loss of lives and plans by countries to evacuate their nationals.

In a public address on Thursday in South Africa, Mr Malema said that repeated waves of anti-African violence in the country had resulted in the killing and displacement of migrants.

“We have witnessed repeated waves of anti-African violence in South Africa itself where migrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi, Congo and elsewhere have attacked, displaced, looted and killed.

“We must say clearly that violence can never be justified. An unemployed South African and unemployed Zimbabwean are both victims of the same global system of inequality and exploitation,” said Mr Malema.

The freedom fighter said Nigerian street traders and South African workers are not enemies, just as Somali shopkeepers and township residents are not enemies.

According to him, the true enemy is the system that keeps African people poor while a tiny elite accumulates wealth.

He stated, “Kwame Nkrumah warned us when he said the forces that unite us are increasing and greater than the superimposed influences that keep us apart.”

Mr Malema’s statement trailed the evacuation of about 300 Ghanaians in South Africa to Ghana on Wednesday, following the xenophobic attacks against African nationals in the country.