SA poet hits UK visa glitch

AN ACCLAIMED South African poet and author has been denied access to the United Kingdom‚ despite the country falling in love with him for describing the prestigious university of Oxford as “Disneyland for nerds”.

Athol Williams – author of Pushing Boulders and the Oaky series of children’s books – was set to return to Oxford yesterday.

But he was forced to shelve his return after he was denied his entry visa to the UK.

The head of school literacy programme Read to Rise attained his masters degree in political theory from Oxford after two years of study and was to start his PhD in political theory shortly.

Williams‚ who also holds masters degrees from other top universities in the world‚ including Harvard‚ said yesterday he planned to reapply for his visa after it was initially rejected.

This was after spending nearly six weeks back in South Africa.

“I am hoping that the visa denial is just a technicality … I will reapply. I don’t – yet – think there is anything sinister.”

This latest development flies in the face of comments made by Williams during an Africa Oxford Initiative in which he referred to the university as “Disneyland for nerds” – something he said he was glad the university was enjoying.

Speaking about challenges he faced at Oxford‚ Williams said: “Oxford is a vast institution with a very long history that has been designed to serve a narrow social group in England.

“As with any strong culture‚ strangers are required to leave their culture at the door and fit into the prevailing culture.” — DDC