South African firebrand opposition politician Mr. Julius Malema has been denied a visa to attend a conference in the UK on 10 May.
Mr. Malema said the UK had no substantial justification for its decision, and he saw it as an attempt to silence a dissenting political perspective.
In a leaked letter to Malema’s deputy, the UK High Commissioner to South Africa, Antony Phillipson, said the Home Office had been unable to process his visa application in time for his trip.
Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, is a fierce critic of what he sees as Western imperialism, and also advocates the nationalisation of white-owned land in South Africa.
In a post on X, the EFF said the High Commission had “actively delayed the processing and approval” of their leader’s visa so that he could not speak at the University of Cambridge on 10 May.He had been invited by the university’s African Society to address its Africa Together Conference, the EFF added.
A Home Office spokesperson responding to enquiry on the issue said they do not comment on individual cases.
Culled from BBC
