Never despise your fellow Africans: Ace Magashule denounces black-on-black violence

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has called on black South Africans to immediately stop waging violence on foreign nationals from Africa and stop hating people of the same colour as themselves. 

Magashule was addressing students at Tshwane University of Technology’s final push ahead of  student representative council elections on Wednesday.

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"Remember you are South Africans but you are African first, you must never despise people who are the same colour as you,” Magashule said.

He indicated that African foreign nationals living in the country were under attack while white foreigners were exempt from the violence. 

"There are many others with whitish skin colour but you don't know them because their colour is white. They will never be called kwerekwere (a derogatory word for African foreign nationals),” Magashule said.

Foreigners have been targeted in protests and violence across Gauteng, with shops looted, buildings vandalised and vehicles set alight.

Magashule called on Africa to unite against the "west" which he claimed was anti-Africa. He suggested that counter-revolutionary forces were trying hard to divide South Africa from the rest of Africa in order to prevent the continent uniting with the powerful Brics grouping, of which South Africa is part. 

"Unite because the west doesn't want Africa to unite, because once Africa comes together with Brics, we form over 60% of the population. We will never go to IMF or US, that is why they are dividing us."

He said the same counter-revolutionary forces had "succeeded to divide the ANC".

Despite South Africa acquiring freedom 25 years ago, the “gains of our revolution are being reversed”,  Magashule told the students.

He said that indigenous people of South Africa were still suffering in poverty while the economy remained in the hands of a few.

"It's only in South Africa where the black people who were found here don't have the economy, the economy is still in the hands of white men, and when we say so people say we don't like whites but we are sharing with a few who took our land by force and we are not using any force but pleading with them to share,” said Magashule. 

He, however, assured students that it was a matter of time before their generation saw economic freedom.

"The struggle continues. Don't think because the ANC is in power you now have everything."