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The UK is not bullying Malema by refusing him entry. Sovereign nations decide who crosses their borders based on national interest.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema. Picture: Facebook/Economic Freedom Fighters
Surely, EFF leader Julius Malema could not have been surprised that the government of the United Kingdom turned down his request for a visitor’s visa?
Much as he might weep and wail about the colonial masters again abusing African people, the reality is that London is quite entitled to decide who it allows through its borders.
And, in the opinion of His Majesty’s Government, to allow Malema to enter the UK “would not be conducive to the public good”.
Apart from the UK government’s concern that he had refused, in a 2022 Equality Court hearing in South Africa, to commit to not repeating calls for the “slaughter of white people”, the Home Office also noted he had voiced support for the Palestinian organisation Hamas.
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The organisation is classed as “terrorist” in the UK and expressing support for it is a crime, as Liam O’Hanna, a member of Irish rap group Kneecap, found out when he was charged this week for a terrorism offence after allegedly waving a Hamas flag at a concert.
The mood of much of the West would have been influenced by footage US President Donald Trump showed recently of Malema’s rendition of Kill the Boer.
This visa refusal probably won’t be the last for Malema.
