EFF leader Julius Malema has proclaimed his support for Burna Boy following major public outrage against having the Nigerian artist perform shortly after his announcement to boycott the country.

"There's no mascot that can stop him from performing, he's one of our own and we will protect him," Malema tweeted on Friday.

"South Africa is a home for all Africans, kill me for defending an African brother, bloody Cowards."

The arrival of the Nigerian singer and songwriter, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, has been met with controversy after he tweeted his refusal to enter South Africa during a period of heightened xenophobic attacks.

The artist, who previously collaborated with South African rapper AKA, in September made it known on Twitter that he will "not ever go to South Africa again" until government takes a stand against the xenophobic attacks which saw more than 300 Nigerians evacuating and at least 12 people dead in one week.

READ MORE: 300 more Nigerians flown home in wake of xenophobic violence in SA

"I have not set foot in SA since 2017. And I will NOT EVER go to South Africa again for any reason until the SOUTH AFRICAN government wakes the fuck up and really performs [a] miracle, because I don’t know how they can even possibly fix this," he tweeted.

Malema came to the African Giant hitmaker’s defence, saying that he looks forward to his arrival in the country a week before the artist is set to perform on stage at the Africans Unite concert.

However, Twitter came out headstrong against Malema, having seemingly loyal EFF supporters majorly questioning whether or not to vote for the party during the next election.





According to Webtickets, the event will be hosted in aid of the spate of xenophobic attacks and gender-based violence plaguing the country, in an attempt to "unify all Africans and speak out against femicide".

The concert is set to take place on November 23 and 24 in Cape Town and Pretoria, respectively.

Burna Boy also promoted the concert on his Twitter page, calling it "the first of many!".

- Compiled by Lauren Klaasen