Julius Malema says Brics must expand more to let others in

EFF leader Julius Malema has welcomed the expansion of the Brics bloc, describing it as “progressive”.

He said Brics “must end the imperialist domination of the world by the West”. 

In 2024, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be full members of the Brics alliance.

Speaking at a media conference, Malema said he the expansion was a step in the right direction. 

“We believe in addition to the six countries that will be admitted into Brics in 2024 there has to inclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, Palestine and Democratic Republic of Congo. All progressives must support Brics as an alternative to the G7 and Nato war alliance,” he said.

Malema urged African leaders in Brics to use the alliance to develop infrastructure in Africa. 

“The African continent is far behind in terms of intracontinental infrastructure and projects that can uplift the lives of our people. Let us use our participation to ensure there is infrastructural development in Africa to connect the continent and get more investment. SA developing alone on this continent will not be helpful.” 

Malema suggested railway projects and electricity transmission lines interlinking African countries would have a positive effect the countries’ economic growth. 

The EFF leader said as more countries join with their own dynamic political and economic affiliations, the party trusted China and Russia to “not allow nonsense to happen”.

“Every country that participates in any multilateral body always looks after its interest. We are not naive about the relationship of these other countries with America and the Nato war alliance. We are quite aware but we are confident the leadership which is at the centre of Brics, particularly China and Russia and to a particular extent Brazil, will not allow nonsense to happen.” 

Some US social media users expressed concerns about Brics’ expansion. Some videos speak about an already formed Brics currency, which is fake news. 

“We could be potentially going through a crisis where the Brics nations are combining their money together to devalue the US dollar. Which means if we wanted to buy something in these countries, whether its Brazil, Russia, China, India and SA something for $1, guess how much it’s going to be. We’re going to give them $55 to their $1. We are subjected to inflation like crazy,” one TikTok user said. 

There has been talk among the Brics nations to create a currency for trade. During the Brics summit in SA last week, it was reported that Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said he did not believe nations that did not use the dollar should be forced to trade in the currency. 

Pan-African Capital Holdings chair Iraj Abedian told the Sunday Times the formation of a common currency among the Brics nation would not happen any time soon.

“There is no question de-dollarisation is a global necessity for many technical, financial and social reasons. However, to find a substitute currency is a long-term game. The Europeans have been at it for years and the euro is nowhere close to being able to replace the dollar,” Abedian said.

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