Prominent South African politician, Julius Malema, is attributing Africa's developmental challenges, including those faced by Ghana, to a departure from Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's values and an excessive focus on privatizing key state assets.

In an exclusive interview with JoyNews' Maxwell Agbagba, the founder and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters stated that a corruption-free, state-led development approach, with less emphasis on privatization, is the solution to the continent's woes.

He said, “Well if you drift away from Nkrumah’s principles of state-led development and you prioritise privatization of strategic sectors of the economy, you’ll never address the issue of unemployment because the interest of business is to maximize on profit and every time you privatise something strategic, the first victims of privatization is the workers.

“They remove the workers in order to maximize on profit. So if we have a state-led corrupt-free development then you’re guaranteed to absorb as many people as possible because that role of the state is not to make profit, it’s to generate sufficient resources to finance its social responsibility programmes.”

Julius Malema is in Ghana on the invitation of the Arise Ghana Youth Movement to partake in a national dialogue on Pan-Africanism.

 Organizers say the event will provide the youth of Ghana with a chance to connect with his activism and commitment to a liberated and united Africa.

Speaking concerning the event, Malema noted that the dialogue is important to bring forward issues of Pan-Africanism and economic emancipation as countries on the continent struggle to find their footing in a tensely polarized world.

“We are happy to be here because Ghana is our home and always showed us the way. So we’re not here necessarily to educate anyone, we are here to learn from each other that’s why it is called a dialogue, and the central message will be Pan-Africanism and economic emancipation of the length of Africa not only in Ghana.

“The democracy in Ghana is very old compared to other democracies on the continent but the means of production are still old by those who previously colonized us. And how do we go beyond that because political freedom without economic emancipation is meaningless and this type of engagement seeks to ensure that the people of the continent are aware that if we stand divided, only the imperialist and colonial forces stand to benefit. The unity of Africa is a threat to the enemies of Africa,” he said.