Please add this print line
for i in range(len(eqlist)):
print eqlist[i]
a.text(1,9-i,eqlist[i], fontsize=15)
and the post the results.
Also, as a test, if you write a mathtext string like
xlabel('$\\alpha$)
does it work? Ie, does using the slash slash manually rather than the
raw string do you have any troubles? Can't see why you would...
JDH