Julius Malema's EFF stands firm after UK visa denial
The British High Commission in South Africa formally apologised to EFF leader Julius Malema after visa delays prevented him from attending a Cambridge University conference.
A Senior member of the EFF has confirmed that party leader Julius Malema and others are not planning to withdraw their visa applications to visit the UK, after a party delegation was not provided with visas to attend a conference at Cambridge University this weekend.
Malema was invited by the African Society of Cambridge to speak at the 11th Annual Cambridge Africa Together Conference but could not leave OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg as their visas did not arrive in time.
Taking to social media platform X, Malema said he was at the airport when he received a letter, four hours before his departure, informing him he had been denied a visa.
'The British authorities have denied me a visa to London for the Cambridge Conference this weekend, providing no substantial justification.
"It is clear to me that this is an attempt to silence a dissenting political perspective,' he said.
'This is unacceptable and spineless.'
Party spokesperson Sinawo Thambo described the incident as "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".
A senior party leader said senior party leaders would not withdraw their visa applications, citing the possibility of future invites from African Society of Cambridge or other entities in the UK.
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