EFF leader Julius Malema says South Africa’s unemployment and broader economic problems are not caused by African migrants and condemns ongoing anti-illegal immigration marches as “Afrophobia.” Speaking at a SACP conference, Malema argues that foreign nationals are being targeted and held responsible for persistent unemployment, inequality, and shortcomings in public services. He characterises the marches as blaming migrants for issues that, in his view, stem from wider economic and governance failures. Multiple reports describe Malema’s position that migrants, including Zimbabweans and other Africans, are not the source of South Africa’s jobs crisis, and that the anti-immigration rhetoric does not address underlying structural challenges facing the country. The accounts focus on his critique of how migrants are portrayed in public debates around labour and service delivery, rather than presenting new evidence or statistics about employment trends. Overall, the sources agree on Malema’s stance: he calls the current approach xenophobic and insists that the unemployment problem requires responses other than blaming or targeting migrants.