By Amy Musgrave
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema has been denied a visa to London, with his party describing the move as an administratively orchestrated ban by the British High Commission.
Malema, who was meant to address students at Cambridge University on Saturday, was informed on Wednesday via a letter of regret that his visa would not be processed on time.
According to the EFF, he had been told it would be processed on Wednesday afternoon.
“This is nothing more than an expression of bureaucratic process being used to suppress political dissent and to ban the voices of the EFF from building global solidarity against Western Imperialism,” the party said in a statement.
Malema was invited by the African Society of Cambridge University to address its 11th Annual Cambridge Africa Together Conference, under the theme “The Making of Africa’s Future Presidents”.
“The United Kingdom is not only suppressing academic freedom by essentially banning the president of the EFF from travelling to the country, but is engaged in an open declaration of war against those who dare to stand up to warmongers such as the British monarchy, which has the blood of the people of Kenya whom they brutalized during the Mau Mau rebellion still dripping from their hands.
“This bureaucratic ban is a response to the condemnation by the CIC of blood thirsty murderers such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who destroyed Iraq under the guise of looking for non-existent weapons of mass destruction,” it said.
The party said that the British bureaucracy needed to be reminded that their monarchy still owed the world a huge debt for the crimes it committed against humanity through colonialism.
It said that one the first visits Malema was going to make while in the UK was to the grave of “Elizabeth Windsor, to confirm that the woman who was at the centre of the pain inflicted on Africa and her people, was indeed departed from this world and that our people can find justice and peace through her departure”.
The party thanked the students of Cambridge for recognising the voice of Malema, saying it would continue to build relations with all those who appreciated the message of the EFF domestically and internationally.
According to a letter sent to EFF deputy president Godrich Gardee from the UK’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Antony Phillipson, the UK Home Office was unable to process the application in time owing to the necessary steps required to consider visa applications and the timing of some recent UK Bank Holidays.
“I recognise that this will be deeply disappointing, especially as the delegation applied in
advance and some paid for priority service. I would like to assure you that I have taken a
personal interest in this issue and have been in regular communication with relevant Home
Office officials about this case including over the last week and this morning.
“I am afraid, though, that I have no means of intervening in the decision-making process itself which is solely a matter for the Home Office,” the letter reads.
Phillipson said that seeing the visit was to attend the Cambridge event and it was no longer possible, if the delegation withdrew its application, the Home Office would fully refund all application fees incurred, including for priority services.
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