In SA pets have medical aid, not workers - Malema at Oxford

Oxford - Rich people in South Africa look after their pets better than they look after their own domestic workers, EFF leader Julius Malema said. 

"We have got a situation where the rich love animals [more] than the people," he told the Oxford Union at Oxford University in the United Kingdom on Wednesday. 

"The dogs of rich people in South Africa have got medical aid but their domestic workers, and the university workers, and the farm workers, the petrol attendants, the security guards, do not have medical aid. 

"Neither do they have rights as workers."

Malema said the recent student protests against fees, and the protests by university workers showed that the interests of the poor are being put on the African agenda.  

He added that some university workers who have worked for more than 30 years have nothing to show for it. 

Malema said this was all changing as younger people became more mobilised, specifically around issues of the poor. 

"Those who want to invest in Africa, those who love peace and democracy - we need your support. We need you to commit... [so that] Africa is not the playground of the rich," he said.