South African LGBTQI+, EFF Supporters Split Over Anti-Gay Prof

University of Cape Town students and supporters of the LGBTQI+ community have protested a lecture by homophobic Kenyan academic Patrick Lumumba at the 10th anniversary event for opposition party the Economic Freedom Figters (EFF).

According to GroundUp, the two groups confronted each other outside the Sarah Baartman Hall, each trying to out-sing the other. Protesters from the LGBTQI+ community waved rainbow flags and posters saying Queer lives matter, Lumumba uyabhora (Lumumba you are annoying) and Education cures homophobia.

Micha Cerf, vice-chairperson of Rainbow UCT, said: "Professor Lumumba has expressed, quite explicitly, that he is a self-proclaimed homophobe. He has also called queerness and homosexuality unAfrican and has expressed the fact that he believes what is happening in Uganda is good."

The EFF's move to host Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba at the University of Cape Town was slammed over the academic's anti-gay stance.

The EFF initially invited Lumumba to present a public lecture at UCT's Sarah Baartman Hall at the university on July 24, 2023. However, Lumumba's support for an anti-homosexuality bill passed in Uganda prompted calls for the university to prevent Lumumba from making a public address.

EFF leader Julius Malema's response was that Lumumba was invited to allow different views.