EFF criticised for decision to host anti-gay lecturer Patrick Lumumba

EFF

Cape Town — Staff at the University of Cape Town (UCT) are demanding that the institution change its decision to allow Kenyan-born professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba to present an EFF 10th anniversary lecture.

Signatories in the petition letter have called themselves LGBTQIA+ allies, and addressed the petition to the interim Vice-Chancellor Daya Reddy, according to The Citizen.

Lumumba’s record of being anti-queer would not reflect well on the institution and would signal its acceptance of his homophobic stance, they said

“Allowing a self-admitted homophobe to continue with a public lecture on our campus signals to LGBTIQA+ staff and students that we are not valued or safe in our workplace and place of study,” read the letter.

Lumumba is set to speak in the Sarah Baartman Hall at UCT on 24 July. The petitioners said Lumumba did not deserve to grace the hall.

“It is ironic that Lumumba, who similarly dehumanises and objectifies LGBTIQA+ Africans and applauds the curtailing of their freedoms in Uganda, has free reign to continue his homophobic discursive violence in a venue named in remembrance of and as a gesture of restorative justice towards Sarah Baartman,” read the petition.

It said that banning Lumumba does not constitute shutting down dissenting voices.

“Preventing homophobic speech and denying access to public platforms for homophobes is not about silencing dissenting opinions or stifling debate. Rather, ensuring that homophobes have no access to UCT’s prestigious platform is a fulfilment of the university’s responsibility to protect its community of staff and students,” the petition said.

According to IOL, Lumumba has been vocal in his support for Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023.  EFF leader Julius Malema, meanwhile, led protests against the bill in Pretoria.

EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo described the bill, which has sailed through Uganda’s parliament, as “inhumane”.

“Further, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill contravenes the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It negates Uganda’s commitment in complying and being accountable to uphold and respect human rights. It detrimentally gives the state power to imprison its people based on their identity and/or consensual sexual assimilation,” the party said.

Here are some of the responses to EFF’s decision to back Lumumba’s lecture:

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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