Black Looks

South Africa is portrayed as a liberated country, as a result of it’s history, there are humanitarian organisations dedicated to eliminating/reducing all forms of violence against women, children, gays and lesbians, etc. we are always given a sense of protection from things that might harm us. We even take a few extra measures to protect ourselves, either from experience or paranoia.

With an average rape campaign, the man is seen as the natural perpetrator but what if the perpetrator is an aunt instead of the HIV positive uncle or the mother instead of the alcoholic father?

Sexual abuse is a common theme in our country; it’s become something common to watch the news and see that someone like Virginia Tiny Mokopo, who allegedly molested kids in Oprah’s Academy for [elite] Girls. The most recent scandal in the very same school, are several girls getting expelled for sexual ‘misconduct’.

I grew up wanting to be nun and I changed my mind about being a nun after discovering that I need to travel a different route in my life. Holding them in high regard for most of my life, I was disturbed to find out about a nun on the internet, Sister Norma Gianini, who pleaded no contest to two counts of sexual assault in 2000. At the age of 79, this Roman Catholic nun is said to have had 60-80 sexual encounters with a certain man, since he was thirteen years old. This was the first of many other women found out have committed crimes of this nature, there are a number of websites, blogs, books, etc. that take the issue into depth but really, are we aware of this matter?
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PRESS STATEMENT – May19, 2009
STOP THE GENOCIDE IN DELTA STATE: THE CRY OF NIGER DELTA WOMEN

We, the women of the Niger Delta have noted with dismay the horrifying act of genocide meted out to innocent indigenes and inhabitants of Gbaramatu kingdom in Delta State by operatives of the Joint Task Force. This is happening despite repeated declaration by the Yar’adua government of its good intentions to address the issues and the neglect of the Niger Delta people. By this action, it has been revealed that the President feigned his sympathy for the Niger Delta problems with his much acclaimed 7-point agenda, the setting up of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta as well as the establishment of the Ministry for the Niger Delta. But the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Umar Musa Yar’dua could not pretend for long too. Perhaps, he could have been labeled a rebel to deviate from the path towed by previous administrations, especially the Obasanjo administration that ordered the razing down of Odi, a Niger Delta community, in 1999.

Thus, the Yar’adua administration has manufactured its own excuse for a greater massacre of Niger Delta women and children under the guise of fishing out militants. Beginning Wednesday, May 13, 2009 the Joint Task Force has been bombing Kurutie, Kokodiagbene, Kunukunuma, Oporoaza and Okerenkoko communities in Gbaramatu kingdom of Delta State, killing innocent persons, majority of them, women and children. Many more persons are rendered homeless; the Punch of Monday, May 18, 2009 reported that about 20,000 people are trapped in these riverine communities because the waterways are blocked by the JTF.
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In 2008, the Zimbabwean government unleashed a wave of politically movitated violence against women. Between May and July some 2000 women were raped by militia, many of these were gang rapes, whilst others have been tortured and imprisoned. To date 500 The violence continues despite the so called “Unity” government and only this week, activists who had been released from prison including Jestina Mukokowere again ordered to return.

In Hear Us! is a truly powerful testimony to the courage and strength of Zimbabwean women.

“They beat me and lifted me up. If I fainted they poured water on me. I fainted three times. They continued beating me. I was crying, ‘Mother, I am dying.’ They said, ‘Does anyone have a knife?’ Someone said, ‘Yes.’ And they said, ‘Bring it here. In the coming elections, you shall not vote; you have already voted.’” – Zimbabwean woman”

Hear Us! is produced by the Research and Advocacy Unit[RAU] and Witness.

Zimbabwean women links:
Women in Zimbabwe – RAU interview
Free Jestina Mukoko
Kubatana Net
WOZA

South African activist and Banyana Banyana soccer player, Eudy Simelane was murdered on April 28th 2008. Thinking about how to honour her memory, the Equality Project decided to start by cleaning the field where she was found. On April 4th 40 people turned up with shovels, plastic bags and brooms and spent the day cleaning the field. The initiative is part of a desire to reclaim public spaces and take ownership as a way of making the community a safe place for everyone especially women. Part of the project included building a bridge which will not only act as a physical crossing but a way to bring together members of the community around the open field.

Phumi Mtetwa of the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project explains….

This initiative is part of others that aim at re-building and maintaining clean community spaces that are open to all to enjoy and use for leisure and transiting. For lesbian and gay activists this space bears additional symbols: a fellow struggler was killed there for transgressing pre-assigned societal gender roles and for living openly as a non-heterosexual.
The wooden cross, put where her body lay on the morning of 28 April 2008, is a further symbol to remember Simelane and the many others who died in similar circumstances and motives across South Africa. It is a reminder of the struggles faced by those who survived death and who continue to live in fear for their lives.

All photos by Laurie Adams from her Facebook

Nigerian old news of the new week – the Halliburton Bribe Takers - Remember OBJ fuming last week in his HardTalk interview denying all corruption blah blah blah –

Our so-called leaders are nothing but common bribe takers, according to US investigators who have got to the bottom of the Halliburton scandal.

The fingered personalities include three former presidents;Obasanjo, Abacha,and Abubakar- as well as a who’s who of Nigeria’s political and business elite.

At least three of our former presidents, Sani Abacha, Abdusalami Abubakar, and Olusegun Obasanjo, received millions of dollars in bribes from American and European contractors retained to build Africa’s first liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny, Rivers State, according to US law enforcement officials.

Also enmeshed in the vast and formalized bribery scheme is a long line of ministers, bureaucrats, top politicians,state and local officials and former oil minister Dan Etete, according to American investigators.

Continue Reading in SUNDAY NEXT

Four men were tried for the murder and rape of Eudy Simelane at the Delmas Circuit Court last week. LGBTI activist and supporters from other social movements in South Africa were also there to give witness to the trial. One of the accused pleaded guilty to murder but not rape and was sentenced to 32 years. The other defendents will appear on the 29th July 2009. Obviously this is disappointing but more so was the statement by the judge in sentencing Thato Petrus Mpithi,

“no significance” in Mpithi’s crime, he failed to recognise that lesbians do face rape and murder in South Africa.

Continue reading the full report on the trial below.

February 11 to 13 saw the first days into the trial of murdered lesbian soccer player, Eudy Simelane, at the Delmas Circuit Court. Four men, aged between 18 and 24 were to appear before Judge Moses Mavundla on the charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and rape

On February 10, a bus load of activists left Kwa-Thema (Gauteng) to ‘camp’ in Delmas (Mpumalanga) for the duration of the trial. Another bus left the next morning [and the two days after] in the early hours of the morning from the same township to participant in the court proceedings.

They were joined by activists from different social movements, notably LGBTI Joint Working Group members, the Treatment Action Campaign, the National Association of People living with AIDS, and the African National Congress from Delmas, Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Germiston, Witbank and over a dozen from other provinces in the country. International solidarity was received from activists, joining the crowd attending court in calling for an end to hate and justice for Eudy.

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Flavia Nambi is a Rape survivor detained in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre and facing removal today Tuesday 20 January, at 7pm.

Please phone or write to:

1. Phil Woolas MP, Immigration Minister, Home Office Minister of State for borders and immigration, UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk

2. Jacqui Smith MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office Fax 020 8760 3132 Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

3. European Court of Human Rights, Fax: +33 (0) 3 88 41 27 30, Tel: +33 (0) 3 88 41 20 18

4. Kenya Airways Flight KQ101 Telephone 01784 888 222

Ms Flavia Nambi has been in Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre since Wednesday 14 January. She has been given Removal Directions for this evening. She is at risk of taking her own life and is on suicide watch.

Ms Nambi could not survive if sent back. Ms Nambi lives in the UK with her Aunt who is her sole surviving relative from the terrible conflict in Uganda. She has no-one to whom she could turn for help and expert testimony confirms that women in Ms Nambi’s vulnerable state could not survive if sent back.

This is the THIRD time Ms Nambi has been detained. Last time she was so traumatised, she lost her memory, became profoundly depressed and was close to taking her own life. After her release, despite her own ill health, Ms Nambi has been dedicated to helping other women in detention who share her experiences.

Evidence of rape submitted to the Home Office. A fresh claim lodged in December included compelling expert evidence from WAR and psychiatrists corroborating her account of brutal gang rape by Lord’s Resistance Army soldiers. As a result, the Home Office have for the first time accepted Ms Nambi is a rape survivor but are still insisting she should be sent back.

Phumi Mtetwa of the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, South Africa, reflects on the significance of the impending trial of the 4 men accused of murdering Eudy Simelane.

TRIAL INTO THE MURDER OF LESBIAN SOCCER PLAYER SET FOR FEBRUARY 2009

The Delmas Circuit Court in Mpumalanga will hear the trial into the murder of lesbian soccer player Eudy Simelane from 11 to 13 February 2009. Simelane, a 31 year old, was allegedly robbed, and gang raped and tortured before being murdered on 28 April last year in her home township, Kwa-Thema, east of Johannesburg. The alleged motivation for her killing was that she was a lesbian who fought back like men.

As it has been reported previously, the murder of Simelane follows many similar ones across South Africa. These crimes, motivated by the hatred of particularly lesbians and transgender people, was covered by the media but unfortunately without drawing national attention from the ruling ANC and other parties in the country, safe of the local branches in Kwa-Thema. South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world and has suffered over the last few years more and more hate crimes resulting in the assault and/or killing of people because of their HIV status, sexual orientation, or because they are black non-South Africans.

The case of Simelane and the pending trial is of significance for various reasons. It indicates the ongoing destruction of black communities through crime in the name of tradition and male domination. Simelane comes from the second oldest township where gay sub-culture was visible and celebrated. In Kwa-Thema, from as long ago as the early 80s, visible “drag-queens” walked the streets proudly, earned respect from their assertion of their sexual identity and their visible strong ties of unity – the gay family.

Through the celebrated woman known as MaThoko to many black gays and lesbians from particularly the old Vaal area, a true community was born and MaThoko’s house was its home. Ordinary members of the Kwa-Thema community would have been perceived as ‘out-of-touch’ if they dared to speak against gays and lesbians. Whether you liked it or not, for whatever reason, Kwa-Thema was home to be proudly black and lesbian or gay without the fears that now exist because of the killings such as that of Simelane.
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