A tense standoff ensued between members of the LGBTQIA+ community and EFF supporters ahead of the party’s 10th anniversary lecture, headlined by controversial academic Professor Patrick Lumumba, at the Sarah Baartman Hall at the University of Cape Town.
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The EFF’s decision to invite the allegedly homophobic Kenyan scholar, Lumumba, drew protests from the LGBTQIA+ community, faculty and students after it was revealed that Lumumba had controversially supported a law against homosexuality that President Yoweri Museveni had just signed into law in Uganda.
The proposed law calls for severe punishments, including the execution of homosexuals.
The EFF was criticised for inviting Lumumba despite having publicly stated its opposition to the bill. When the bill was signed, the EFF claimed that it had made it official for the LGBTQI community to be persecuted in that nation.
‘The bill that has been signed by Museveni is nothing short of state-sponsored hate and homophobia,’ EFF national spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys told IOL in May.
A petition to top UCT leadership signed by LGBTQIA+ people and UCT staff members was unsuccessful in getting the event cancelled.
A demonstration against homophobia was organised by the queer community of Cape Town, the Triangle Project, Gender DynamiX, and UCT staff and students.
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‘Our peaceful protest objects to hate speech, transphobia and homophobia against queer Africans,’ they said.
‘We object to Lumumba’s media and social media statements that label same-sex relations and transgender identities as ‘unnatural’ and ‘unAfrican’, which contributes to a climate where violence against queer lives flourishes.’
‘We further object to the use of a publicly-funded university’s resources to host a homophobic speaker, who contributes significantly to the hate speech which harms and incites violence against queer Africans,’ they said, pledging solidarity with the LGBTIQA+ Ugandans who face the death penalty and life imprisonment for being queer.
Despite the demonstrations outside, the lecture went on as EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu took seats next to Lumumba on stage.
The protesters claimed that by ‘platforming a homophobic proponent of hate speech, in direct dereliction of their duty as an opposition party to uphold the Constitution of South Africa,’ the EFF had violated its obligation to uphold the Constitution.
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Picture: Raphael Renter / Unsplash