PLO Lumumba Faces Hostile Crowd in South Africa
Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, a well-known lawyer, scholar, and Pan-Africanist, faced opposition upon arriving at the University of Cape Town for an event hosted by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Despite being invited to deliver a keynote speech to a group of attendees on Monday, July 24, LGBTQ activists were displeased with the institution's decision to welcome him due to his stern views against the community. Protests erupted with students and activists chanting slogans and holding up placards in opposition to Lumumba. Mabhavana Moyane, the South African Students Congress (Sasco) UCT chairperson, lamented that the University ignored a month-long objection from the student body.
"It’s important to protest for what is literally our lives at stake. We heard about our brothers and sisters being murdered for existing as queer in a country with the ‘most advanced’ Constitution. It is terrifying having to look in the face of people who believe I don’t deserve to live," one of the protesters said.
Lumumba was invited to participate in the EFF's 10th-anniversary event which took place at the Sarah Baartman Hall on the University of Cape Town campus. Upon his arrival, he was greeted by South African opposition leader Julius Malema and president of the Economic Freedom Fighters party. Lumumba is a former director of the Kenya School of Law and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, now known as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Tensions had been brewing since June 2023 over Lumumba's upcoming speech, which he was invited to give soon after expressing support for Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act signed by President Yoweri Museveni. In his statement, the lawyer applauded Uganda for defying Western countries and taking the right stance. However, this was met with criticism from activists. The Anti-Homosexuality Act makes any form of same-sex sexual activity and recognition or promotion of such acts illegal, with penalties ranging from imprisonment for life or for a period not exceeding ten years, depending on the charges.