Lumumba Protest

STATEMENT Re: Protest against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Hate Speech against Queer Africans

Date: 24 July 2023
Time: 4pm to 7pm
Location: University of Cape Town Plaza

A coalition of LGBTIQA+ organisations and UCT staff and students will protest against homophobia, transphobia and homophobic and transphobic hate speech on the Plaza outside of Sarah Baartman Hall on 24 July 2023.

The protest, organised by members of the queer community of Cape Town, including the Triangle Project, Gender DynamiX and UCT staff and students, is our response to an Open Lecture to be delivered by PLO Lumumba on 24 July 2023, as part of the Economic Freedom Fighter’s (EFF) tenth anniversary celebrations.

Our peaceful protest objects to hate speech, transphobia and homophobia against queer Africans. We object to Lumumba’s media and social media statements that label same-sex relations and transgender identities as “unnatural” and “unAfrican”, which contributes to a climate where violence against queer lives flourishes.

We further object to the use of a publicly-funded university’s resources to host a homophobic speaker, who contributes significantly to the hate speech which harms and incites violence against queer Africans.

We are also protesting in solidarity with LGBTIQA+ Ugandans, who face the death penalty and life imprisonment, amongst other punishments, for the “crime” of being queer in Uganda, and in solidarity with queer Africans across the continent who face persecution by state-sanctioned anti-homosexuality legislation.

Through our protest, we want to hold the EFF accountable for platforming a homophobic proponent of hate speech, in direct dereliction of their duty as an opposition party to uphold the Constitution of South Africa, which prohibits all forms of unfair discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, or sexual orientation. The EFF’s invitation to Lumumba also contradicts the party’s own stance on Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law, against which they protested outside the Ugandan High Commission in April this year.

The EFF’s stance is also harmful to queer Africans from outside of South Africa, who seek refuge from homophobic laws and violence in this country, thinking that it will be safer here because of the protections granted to the queer community by our Constitution. The choice of Lumumba to celebrate their tenth anniversary is also a betrayal of such Africans seeking safe harbour in South Africa.

The protest will include a placard demonstration and various artistic performances by queer and allied communities. It will be staged between 4 and 7pm on Monday, 24 July 2023. It will include a vigil in remembrance of queer lives lost to transphobic and homophobic violence.

For more information, please contact:
Ling Shepherd - Triangle Project: 073-557-3251
Khanyisile Phillips - Gender DynamiX : 068-076-0355
Barbara Boswell - Academic: 081-280-627