There was a tense standoff between members of the LGBTQIA+ community and EFF supporters ahead of the party’s 10th anniversary lecture, which was headlined by controversial academic Professor Patrick Lumumba at the Sarah Baartman Hall at the University of Cape Town.
The LGBTQIA community, staff and students had been protesting against the EFF’s decision to invite the alleged homophobic Kenyan scholar, Lumumba, after he controversially supported an anti-homosexuality bill recently passed in Uganda by President Yoweri Museveni.
The bill recommends heavy sentences, including the death penalty for homosexuality in the country.
The EFF has publicly stated it was opposed to the bill, but was criticised for inviting Lumumba. When the bill was signed, the EFF said the act had officially legalised the persecution of members of the LGBTQI± community in that country.
“The bill that has been signed by Museveni is nothing short of state-sponsored hate and homophobia,” said EFF national spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys in May.
A petition by UCT staff and students and the LGBTQIA+ community, addressed to top leadership at UCT, failed to have the event scrapped.
The queer community of Cape Town, the Triangle Project, Gender DynamiX and UCT staff and students, led a protest against homophobia.
They said: “Our peaceful protest objects to hate speech, transphobia and homophobia against queer Africans.
“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.
The lecture proceeded despite the protests outside, with EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu taking seats on stage along Lumumba.
The group said their protest was about holding the EFF accountable for “platforming a homophobic proponent of hate speech, in direct dereliction of their duty as an opposition party to uphold the Constitution of South Africa”.
This is how people reacted on social media:
Happening right now at UCT… The LGBTQI+ community protesting the hosting of a blatant homophobe Lumumba by the EFF. pic.twitter.com/6FLTyiGOa0
— Izu Sichinga (He/Him/His) 🇿🇲🇲🇺🇿🇦🏳️🌈 (@Izu_musiq) July 24, 2023
I love how the EFF and Julius Malema blue ticked haters, nothing was said about the noise that was made since the announcement of Prof Lumumba's lecture at UCT.
— MfanaKaGogo (@Basoh_Mabaso) July 24, 2023
Lesson: Never allow your enemies to set an agenda for you.#EFFTurns10 #EFF10thAnniversary pic.twitter.com/zrda6VIOb2
The EFF attacking pro-LGBTIQA+ rights protesters at UCT
The EFF attacking pro-LGBTIQA+ rights protesters...
The EFF attacking pro-LGBTIQA+ rights protesters...
The EFF attacking pro-LGBTIQA+ rights protesters...
The EFF attacking pro-LGBTIQA+ rights protesters...
Equal Education post-school youth members have joined the protest at UCT against homophobia, and in support of the LGBTQIA+ community as the EFF anniversary lecture by Prof Patrick Lumamba, known for making unacceptable homophobic statements, commences. #NoToHomophobia pic.twitter.com/wqVS7baqhM
— Equal Education (@equal_education) July 24, 2023
UCT LGBTIA+ community hosting a peaceful protest against the hosting of Lumumba by EFF at Sarah Baartman Hall. pic.twitter.com/znIf52j6bz
— ツ O R I (@Ori_RSA) July 24, 2023
Prof PLO Lumumba is adressing the lecture reflecting on 10yrs of EFF existence. The lecture at UCT is not about sexual orientation. President Museveni was Ramaphosa's guest at Union Buildings. There was no protest. No journalist asked Ramaphosa why he associated with homophobe
IOL