[Image: Uhomes]
The UK High Commission has reportedly apologised to anti-Imperialist firebrand Julius Malema after the Empire denied him a visa to attend a conference in Cambridge this weekend.
In a leaked letter to Malema’s deputy, the UK High Commissioner to South Africa, Antony Phillipson, said the Home Office had been unable to process his visa application in time for his trip.
In the letter, which the BBC has been told is genuine, Mr Phillipson said that he wanted to “personally apologise” that the Home Office in the UK had been “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”.
He added that he had taken a “personal interest in the issue” over the last week.
“I recognise that this will be deeply disappointing, especially as the delegation applied in advance and some paid for priority service,” Mr Phillipson said, in the letter to the EFF’s Godrich Gardee.
Malema vented his spleen on X after his trip was allegedly scuppered hours before he was said to board a plane to the UK. In the post on X, the EFF said the High Commission had “actively delayed the processing and approval” of their leader’s visa so that he could not speak at the University of Cambridge on 10 May.
British High Commission Apologises for Failing to Process Julius Malema’s Visa on Time
The British High Commission in South Africa has apologised to Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), for failing to process his visa application in time for a… pic.twitter.com/A4irVbUbOz
— Central News (@centralnewsza) May 8, 2025
Malema had been invited by the university’s African Society to address its Africa Together Conference.
Malema said on X that the EFF delegation had been promised that “everything would be sorted”, but received a “regret letter just hours before our departure”.
“This is unacceptable and spineless,” he added.
Ja, it almost makes you want to allegedly fire a few alleged blank rounds into the air above a crowd. That said, we’d love to see Malema’s Visa application form, especially the part that inquires about your legal issues.
[Source: BBC]
