Christian student expelled from South African university for opposing LGBT ideology
Students called on Rhodes University to take action against Arthur Zubenathi Vamva after he condemned the ‘satanism’ and ‘spiritual darkness’ of transgenderism and homosexuality.
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Mon Jan 5, 2026 - 5:17 pm EST
(LifeSiteNews) — A Christian student has been expelled for 10 years from a South African university for opposing homosexuality and transgenderism reportedly on charges of “hate speech.”
Arthur Zubenathi Vamva recently shared that in 2022 he was “teaching students about biblical principles that transgenderism is not of God’s purpose, and that homosexuality is a sin according to the book of Leviticus 18:22.” At the time, he was running as a candidate for president of the Student Representative Council (SRC) of Rhodes University.
“Suddenly, my world turned upside down as Rhodes University, in South Africa,accused me of hate speech and for inciting harm against the LGBTQ community,” Vamva said on a webpage raising funds for the expenses of his legal battle. The university decided to expel him for 10 years.
An August 2022 local report explained how, before the university had responded at all to Vamva, students had broken out in vehement protest of his allegedly “homophobic” and “transphobic” remarks on his Facebook page. South African outlet Grocott’s Mail cited a post in which Vamva commented on a post of a cross-dressing male, “Satanism at its best. I don’t care what you say. There is a domination of spiritual darkness implicated here- makuthandazwe, this is not normal!!”
Students protested and disrupted Vamva’s speech at a Rhodes SRC election “grazzle,” Grocott’s Mail reported at the time, carrying signs reading, “My love is not a sin,” “I’m your satanist,” and “No to Arthur!!! You little homophobe.”
Students petitioned the Independent Electoral Board (IEB), the SRC’s Student Defence Council (SDC), and Rhodes University itself to take action against Vamva, with more than 500 signatures, shared Grocott’s Mail.
“The inaction of the IEB, the SRC’s silence, and Rhodes University’s refusal to disqualify this misogynistic, transphobic and homophobic candidate disgust me. Those running for SRC should refuse to attend any ‘grazzle’ that includes him,” student Alejandro Rubenstein said. “This man and his Stone Age beliefs have no place on campus.”
Vamva responded to the accusations with a video posted to his Facebook page defending the statements at issue, arguing they were “taken out of context.”
He maintained that saying he does not believe in homosexuality is “not hate speech.”
“For I had never condemned or called for malicious intent or violence upon queer people. I have never concluded that they should be mistreated or that they should be isolated from society. Neither have I ever claimed that they should be treated (as) less (than) humans,” Vamva said.
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After Rhodes University wrote to Vamva over his alleged “hate speech,” the student recorded a response in which he accused the university of being “captured by woke agendas” and “Western post-modernism”
“In a university that has been captured by woke culture, there is no such thing as free speech,” Vamva said.
The university then served him disciplinary charges that Vamva said included posting campaign content on his WhatsApp group.
“Are they charging me for those screenshots … or for my own religion or my own cultural traditionalism?”
After Vamva was expelled, his attorneys submitted an application for a review and a retrial, documents that Vamva posted to Facebook in 2023 show. Rhodes University rejected this request for a retrial, claiming that Vamva’s application had “no substance.”
In September 2024, Vamva’s legal team began to seek a court order that would declare the expulsion of Vamva to be “unlawful,” and the university laws Vamva was found to violate to be “invalid/unconstitutional.”
Vamva is in need of help to defray his legal expenses and has set up a GiveSendGo campaign page to raise money for his defense. Readers are invited to donate to assist Vamva in his fight against Rhodes University’s unjust, anti-Christian decision. Note that one U.S. dollar equals 16 R (Rand/ZAR).
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TAGGED AS
- Anti-christian Bigotry
- Arthur Zubenathi Vamva
- Free Speech
- Homosexuality
- Rhodes University
- South Africa
