Bolivias president-elect Evo Morales is in South Africa on the latest leg of his world tour ahead of his inauguration on 22 January, BBC Online reports.
On arriving Tuesday, he said South Africas struggle against apartheid was similar to the political struggle in Bolivia. An Aymara Indian, Mr Morales will be Bolivias first indigenous president.
He is due to meet South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday. He has said he also hopes to meet his hero, Nelson Mandela.
The Bolivian leader arrived in South Africa from China, where he appealed to business leaders to help him use Bolivias big reserves of gas to alleviate poverty.
Mr Morales is expected to visit the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.
– The struggle of our South African brothers is the same as the struggle of our people. We were discriminated against as a people. We share a common history of discrimination, Mr. Morales said.
Bolivias indigenous majority live mostly in poverty, governed for centuries by a wealthy minority, predominantly of Spanish and European extraction.
Mr Morales has vowed not to forget the people who put him in power, and has said he will take a pay cut of 50 per cent when he takes office which he says will help pay the salaries of new teachers, BBC adds.
