Far-left South African politician says the UK denied him a visa to speak at Cambridge University
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A far-left South African politician renowned for his anti-West rhetoric accused U.K. authorities Wednesday of denying him a visa to speak at an event at Cambridge University for political reasons.
Julius Malema, the leader of South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party, said the decision was effectively a ban on him addressing students and 'an attempt to silence a dissenting political perspective.'
He posted on social media platform X that he had been assured that his visa was being processed but had received 'a regret letter' informing him his application was not successful while he was at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport waiting for his flight to London.
Malema, who also uses the title 'Commander in Chief' of his party, has previously demanded the U.K. pay reparations and apologize to African nations for colonialism. The lawmaker and his party have also accused the British monarchy of playing a leading role in the slave trade and colonial abuses.
The BBC reported that it had seen a leaked letter to Malema's EFF party from the British high commissioner to South Africa personally apologizing that the U.K. Home Office wasn't able to process Malema's visa in time and saying it was due to procedural issues. The letter from High Commissioner Antony Phillipson cited 'the unfortunate timing' of recent British national holidays, according to the BBC.
The Home Office didn't comment.
Malema was due to speak at an Africa-themed event at Cambridge University on Saturday, his party said.
The firebrand politician, who was expelled from South Africa's then-ruling African National Congress party in 2012, has also taken anti-Western positions recently on the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict. He has voiced support for Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and has accused Western nations of supporting and financing what he calls Israel's 'genocide' against Palestinians in Gaza.
In October, the U.K. denied ex-South African lawmaker Mandla Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela, a visa to travel and speak at pro-Palestinian events in several British cities. Mandla Mandela said he was informed by the Home Office that his visa had been rejected because of his support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which the U.K. considers a terrorist organization, and his presence was 'not conducive to the public good.'
___
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Civil rights agency's acting chief to face questions on anti-DEI, transgender stances
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The acting chief of the country's top agency for enforcing worker rights will face questions at a Senate committee hearing Wednesday over her efforts to prioritize anti-diversity investigations while sidelining certain racial and gender discrimination cases and quashing protections for transgender workers. Andrea Lucas, who was first appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2020 and elevated to acting chief in January, is one of four Labor Department nominees to appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Her nomination to serve another five-year term as an EEOC commissioner requires Senate confirmation, though whether she stays on as chief will be up to President Donald Trump. Lucas, an outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion practices and promoter of the idea that there are only two immutable sexes, has moved swiftly to enact Trump's civil rights agenda after he abruptly fired two of the EEOC's Democratic commissioners before the end of their five-year terms, an unprecedented move in the agency's 60-year history that has been challenged in a lawsuit. Lucas is prioritizing worker rights that conservatives argue have been ignored by the EEOC. That includes investigating company DEI practices, defending the rights of women to same-sex spaces and fighting anti-Christian bias in the workplace. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate committee holding the hearing, has championed many of those causes. He accused the EEOC under the Biden administration of 'injecting its far-left' agenda into the workplace, including by updating sexual harassment guidelines to warn against misgendering transgender workers and including abortion as a pregnancy-related condition under regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Questioning the EEOC's independence Democrats on the committee are likely to grill Lucas over criticism that she overstepped her authority by profoundly shifting the EEOC's direction to the whims of the president in the absence of a quorum, which commission has lacked since Trump fired the two commissioners. Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the committee, said she will oppose any EEOC nominations unless Trump reinstates the two fired Democratic commissioners, which she and more than 200 other Democratic senators and Congress members condemned in a letter to the president as an abuse of power. 'President Trump is weaponizing the independent EEOC to serve his personal political agenda, firing commissioners without cause and warping the mission of the EEOC beyond recognition,' Murray said in a statement ahead of the hearing. 'Commissioner Lucas is a right-wing extremist who has been in lockstep behind Trump's pro-discrimination agenda.' Lucas has made clear her views of the limitations of the EEOC's autonomy. In a recent memo to employers, Lucas declared that the 'EEOC is an executive branch agency, not an independent agency' that will 'fully and robustly comply' with all executive orders. That includes two orders that Trump signed in January: one directing federal agencies to eliminate their own DEI activities and end any 'equity-related' grants or contracts, and the other imposing a certification provision on all companies and institutions with government contracts or grant dollars to demonstrate that they don't operate DEI programs. The EEOC's new approach alarmed more than 30 civil rights groups, which sent a letter to the Senate committee demanding that Lucas face a hearing. The groups argued that the EEOC was created by Congress under 1964 Civil Rights Act to be a bipartisan agency that would function independently from the executive branch. The EEOC, the only federal agency empowered to investigate employment discrimination in the private sector, received more than 88,000 charges of workplace discrimination in fiscal year 2024. Its commissioners are appointed by the president to staggered terms, and no more than three can be from the same party. Much of the EEOC's authority is granted by Congress, including the obligation to investigate all complaints and enact regulations for implementing some laws. EEOC shifts the focus of discrimination cases Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Under Lucas, the EEOC dropped seven of its own lawsuits on behalf of transgender or nonbinary workers. It also moved to drop a racial discrimination case on behalf of Black, Native American and multiracial job applicants after Trump ordered federal agencies to stop pursuing discrimination that falls under 'disparate impact liability,' which aims to identify practices that systematically exclude certain demographic groups. Instead, Lucas has turned the EEOC's attention to investigating company DEI practices. In her most high profile move, she sent letters to 20 law firms demanding information about diversity fellowships and other programs she claimed could be evidence of discriminatory practices. Lucas has also repeatedly encouraged workers nationwide to come forward with DEI complaints. She launched a hotline for whistleblowers and said workers should be encouraged to report bad DEI practices after a Supreme Court decision made it easier for white and other non-minority workers to bring reverse-discrimination lawsuits. ________ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
LGBTQ refugee group says number of requests for help has increased
OTTAWA – An organization that helps LGBTQ+ people file refugee claims says it has seen a spike in pleas for assistance from around the world since 2020. Devon Matthews, program head with Rainbow Railroad, said the explosion in the number of requests for help reflects a trend of nations backsliding on LGBTQ rights — or even embracing a policy of persecution. 'This isn't just the United States that we're seeing this in,' she said. 'More broadly worldwide, we are seeing some particularly terrifying xenophobia, anti-refugee sentiment and queer phobia in many countries around the world, including in Europe and across different regions in which we work on the ground.' Republican state and federal officials in the U.S. have been working for years to limit the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans and have imposed rules on which sports transgender students can play and which bathrooms they can use, among other policies. The Rainbow Railroad says it's now working with Ottawa to divert from the U.S. to Canada a handful of refugee claims filed by LGBTQ+ claimants. Matthews said her organization was fielding 27 applications representing 36 people who were bound for the U.S. at the start of the year. Some of the applicants filed as couples. She said 28 of those applicants changed their minds about moving to the United States after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. 'So we've had to pivot our plans for those 28 individuals to come to Canada to the best of our abilities,' she said. 'Obviously, it's a very complex process to switch all of the different logistics and paperwork, and people are in extremely dire situations, but we've been doing what we can.' Matthews said that this kind of switch isn't allowed normally but Ottawa is making an exception. Matthews said these refugee claimants would not be covered by the Safe Third Country Agreement — which says an asylum seeker must stay in the first safe country they reach — because they have not entered the U.S. The claimants are currently living in Brazil, Columbia, Uganda and nine other African countries. A spokeswoman from Immigration Minister Lena Diab's office said in an emailed reply that the office can't comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation. She added that Canada has a 'proud history' of resettling vulnerable people, including LGBTQ+ refugees, and the government works with groups like Rainbow Railroad to identify LGBTQ+ refugees and their families for resettlement. Rahma Esslouani made it to Canada with Rainbow Railroad's help. Esslouani is originally from Morocco, where same-sex relationships are illegal. 'I faced violence, physically and psychologically, from my family, from society, discrimination, persecution. So I don't have rights to wear what I'm going to wear. I don't have rights to be myself, to be who I am. I have to follow the culture,' Esslouani said. 'My family wanted to force me to get married, so this makes me feel like I can't accept a marriage to a man. So that is the main and biggest reason to escape through Turkey.' Esslouani said they faced continued persecution in Turkey, where non-binary status is not recognized under the law. While it's not illegal to be in a same-sex relationship or to be gender non-conforming in Turkey, so-called 'offences against public morals' have been used to target LGBTQ+ people. Esslouani said they were arrested in Turkey. 'I realized that it is dangerous to exist and to be myself as queer, non-binary person,' they said. After that arrest, Esslouani contacted Rainbow Railroad. 'I remember the first the email that I received said, 'We are with you. You are not alone,'' Esslouani said. 'I read it again and again and again because of like, happiness with this world that finally someone heard my story and gives me hope, that I have to resist and not give up.' Esslouani finally came to Canada in July 2024, just missing Pride Month in Toronto. They said it's 'a dream come true' to live here after a lifetime of hiding. 'So finally, I'm going to be myself. I'm going to be out in public and can be myself and introduce my sexuality in public, and live, walk and talk freely and not be scared of the police or that people will judge me or to feel shame or afraid,' Esslouani said. 'There is love between people here. Everyone supports each other. There is no judgment, no fear. So I feel that I am no longer just surviving, but I am alive.' Rainbow Railroad receives a yearly allotment of 250 spots in Government Assisted Refugee program to help people like Esslouani come to Canada. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.
Canada Standard
6 hours ago
- Canada Standard
Canada, India agree to resume diplomatic services, designate new High Commissioners
Kananaskis [Canada], June 18 (ANI): India and Canada agreed to resume full diplomatic services, ending the thaw between the two countries, triggered by Canadian allegations that Indian agents were involved in the killing of NIA-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Canada in 2023. At the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and both leaders agreed to designate new high commissioners, with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries, according to a press release from the Prime Minister of Canada. Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed the importance of Canada-India ties, based upon mutual respect, the rule of law, and a commitment to the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity. They discussed strong and historic ties between their peoples, partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, and significant commercial links between Canada and India -- including partnerships in economic growth, supply chains, and the energy transformation, read the release. Prime Minister Carney also raised priorities on the G7 agenda, including transnational crime and repression, security, and the rules-based order. The discussions on deepening engagement in technology, digital transition, food security, and critical minerals came even as India-Canada ties remain strained due to ongoing political tensions. India has repeatedly voiced concern over extremism and anti-India activities in Canada, urging Canadian authorities to act against such elements. Tensions escalated further when former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that his government had 'credible allegations' of India's involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in 2023. India has strongly denied the allegations, terming them 'absurd' and 'motivated,' and has accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements. In the aftermath, India recalled six diplomats from Canada after they were declared 'persons of interest' by Canadian authorities investigating Nijjar's killing. Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. The diplomatic rift between India and Canada has since widened, with Canada allegedly violating various international norms such as the Vienna Convention, and subjecting Indian diplomats to surveillance--against which the Ministry of External Affairs had lodged a formal protest with the Canadian government. (ANI)
