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. Malema said the UK had no "substantial justification" for its decision, and he saw it as an "attempt to silence a dissenting political perspective". South African firebrand opposition politician Julius Malema says he has been denied a visa to attend a conference in the UK on 10 May. He had been invited by the university's African Society to address its Africa Together Conference, the EFF added. 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".