Is this EFF statement on late queen why Julius Malema was denied UK visa?
Home » Is this EFF statement on late queen why Julius Malema was denied UK visa?
EFF leader, Julius Malema and the late Queen Elizabeth. Images: X/@EFFSouthAfrica and @Africa_Archives.
The decision to deny Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema a visa to the United Kingdom (UK) has left many puzzled about the actual reason behind.
Malema was set to address students at Cambridge University's 'Africa Together Conference' on 10 May. However, he was informed just hours before he was supposed to depart for the UK that his visa could not be processed in time.
In a letter addressed to the EFF's deputy president Godrich Gardee, the British High Commissioner to South Africa, Antony Phillipson, said his colleagues at the UK Home Office have said that they will regrettably be unable to process the application in time, owing to the necessary steps required to consider visa applications and the unfortunate timing of some recent UK Bank Holidays.
'I recognise this will be deeply disappointing, especially as the delegation applied in advance and some paid for priority service. I would like to assure you that I have taken a personal interest in this issue and have been in regular communication with relevant Home Office officials about this case, including over the last week and this morning. I am afraid, though, that I have no means of intervening in the decision-making process itself, which is solely a matter for the Home Office,' Phillipson said.
Reacting to the news, the EFF said the banning of Malema is a reflection of the continued control of the political process in the United Kingdom by the British monarchy, who clearly remain aggrieved by the EFF's posture following the death of their 'Queen' Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor.
'As the EFF we want to reaffirm our statement on the death of Elizabeth Mary Windsor and remind the bureaucracy in the UK that their monarchy still owes the world a huge debt for the crimes they committed against humanity through colonialism.
'One of the first visits the President of the EFF was going to make was to the grave of Elizabeth Windsor, to confirm that the woman who was at the centre of the pain inflicted on Africa and her people, was indeed departed from this world and that our people can find justice and peace through her departure,' EFF spokesperson Thembi Msane said.
Could the party's statement on Queen Elizabeth's death be the reason why Malema was denied a visa to the UK?
Elizabeth passed away in September 2022, and the Red Berets said they would not mourn her death because it served as a reminder of a very tragic period in the history of South Africa and the African continent at large.
The Red Berets said South Africa's interaction with with Britain under the leadership of the British royal family has been one of pain, suffering, death, depression and dehumanisation of African people.
'Elizabeth Windsor, during her lifetime never acknowledged the crimes that Britain and her family in particular perpetrated across the world. In fact she was a proud flag bearer of the atrocities because during her reign, when the people of Yemen rose to protest against British colonialism, Elizabeth ordered a brutal suppression of that uprising,' the party said.
The EFF further said during her 70-year-reign the late monarch not even once acknowledged the atrocities that her family inflicted on native people that Britain invaded across the world.
'She willingly benefitted from the wealth that was attained from the exploitation and murder of millions of people across the world. The British Royal Family stands on the shoulders of millions of slaves who were shipped away from the continent to serve the interests of racist white capital accumulation, at the centre of which lies the British royal family.'
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