The EFF has defended inviting Kenyan academic Professor Patrick Lumumba to address a public lecture at the party’s 10th-anniversary celebrations at the Sarah Baartman Hall at UCT later this month.
This amid outcry from some of the university’s staff and students over Lumumba’s controversial views on the LGBTQ+ community.
A petition has also been launched to prevent Lumumba from addressing the lecture.
Lumumba has been a vocal supporter of an anti-homosexuality bill recently passed in Uganda. The bill recommends heavy sentences, including the death penalty for homosexuality.
In a recent interview, Lumumba said he was homophobic and believed homosexuality “could be cured”.
EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said they were not surprised by the backlash.
“The EFF has nothing to respond to as our position on the anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda is well known, we marched against it. Our lecture is going to continue on the 24th of July.
We are not offended or shocked by the backlash through a petition as it’s part of discourse and debate. We are proceeding as planned and we expect to have a successful lecture,” he said.
Tambo described Lumumba as an esteemed pan-Africanist who was highly respected in the legal fraternity.
South African Students Congress (Sasco) UCT chairperson, Mabhavana Moyane said they were “disgusted” by the EFF invitation to Lumumba.
“We are utterly shocked and dismayed at continuous ignorance the EFF has shown towards the invitation of the homophobic Professor Lumumba, who parades as Pan-Africanist yet relying on distorted western religious dogma to justify his hatred of the LGBTQ+ community,” he said.
Triangle Project spokesperson Ling Sheperd said UCT’s “refusal” to retract the invitation to Lumumba just after Pride Month speaks to its “hypocrisy”.
“The EFF fresh off the heels of its own march for LGBTQTIA+ Ugandans invites a very vocal homophobe to celebrate its 10 year anniversary is as egregious. Giving Lumumba a platform is an outright message to us as South Africans that the constitution that protects human rights is a selective document to UCT and the EFF,” Sheperd said.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the event in question was not a UCT gathering, but an event that was scheduled to be hosted on the UCT campus by an external party.
“It should be noted that UCT management is not in any way involved in the programme for events hosted by external parties on campus, nor does management necessarily align with the hosting external parties or any views held or expressed by any speaker,“ he said.
Western Cape gender activist Kabelo Kennybarel said they were shocked by the position taken by the EFF.
“We are seeing a lot of hypocrisy from the EFF because not too long ago they were standing with the LGBTQI community and they protested against the Ugandan government on the anti-homosexual bill. It can’t be that they are going to go to the very same people who were speaking against their own principles to come and give a lecture,” Kennybarel said.
Lumumba could not be reached for comment.
Cape Times