Yasmin Bilal
Thuthukile Zuma, daughter of former president Jacob Zuma and former African Union Commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has made a series of remarks addressing xenophobia, inequality, migration, and South Africa’s socio-economic challenges.
Zuma said in her posts on X: “No African is illegal in Africa. If you believe that an African can be illegal in Africa, then you are not a revolutionary. We must reject the notion of an illegal foreigner. Africans can be undocumented, but they cannot be illegal.”
She strongly rejected xenophobia, describing it as part of a broader political and historical struggle, saying: “I really detest Xenophobia. It feels like a checkmate in a game of chess between our oppressors and us.”
Zuma argued that deporting foreign nationals would not address structural inequality in South Africa, linking the issue to land ownership, economic exclusion, and unemployment.
She said: “If we kicked out every foreign national in South Africa, we would still be landless whilst the white majority thrive and monopolises our land, natural resources and all sectors of our economy. The problem is poverty, racial inequality and unemployment, not foreign nationals.”
She also questioned whether attitudes towards migrants would change under conditions of economic comfort, saying: “If you could afford to live where u like, work where u like, take ur children to any school and afford to enjoy a family dinner at ur favourite restaurant, would you care that a Zimbabwean is ur waiter?”
Zuma further said that inequality and poverty remain central issues affecting South Africans. She stated: “The pain our people feel and the conditions they are forced to live in while they watch a minority live in absurd opulence is what we need to attend to. White people in SA continue to live like kings while we live like paupers. Can we attend to that rather?”
Reaffirming her political stance, Zuma said: “There is no election that will cause me to abandon my principles or be wishy washy on my Pan Africanist inclination.”
She also commented on South Africa’s global role and internal tensions, saying: “South Africa is the Prefect of the World on matters around human rights and arguably the number 1 defender of oppressed people. A few rogues are set to undermine this completely on the 30th. They must be stopped.”
Zuma, an active African National Congress (ANC) figure in Gauteng involved in local governance and youth mobilisation initiatives, has recently shifted focus to strengthening internal party structures.
She has engaged with the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and is also contesting leadership positions within the ANC’s Johannesburg region.