Marko Phiri of Kubatana draws the analogy between women being unable to exercise their democratic right to vote for their choice of candidate and that of the right of a woman not to be physically molested and to dress as she pleases.

I listened with disgust the other day to a woman and two men justifying why one of the men had fondled a woman’s breasts in public. The woman in question was a total stranger. While the young man claimed he was drunk when his hands strayed and groped a strange woman’s bosom - an offence that subsequently saw him do community service as his just desserts - the young scoundrel still insisted he believed what he had done was not wrong. His female interlocutor agreed.

I sat and listened silently and my mind went on overdrive as I made parallels with our present political circumstances where men, women and children have “invited” the wrath of Zanu PF militias by simply voting for a party of their choice. As the discourse on Zimbabwe’s post-2000 political narrative that has been defined by coercion rather than persuasion and has rendered all democratic precepts - fundamentally that of the ability to exercise one’s franchise without paying for it with brutal violence - the woman’s body as an object of men’s sexual pleasure presented for me a fascinating analogy.

Tags:
Zimbabwe
Sexual Harassment
Elections

It seems it is so easy to move from name calling to drawing a gun and shooting someone simply because they are different, different sexualities, different nationalities, different races. The murder of Daisy Dube is under investigation but like so many previous murders, rapes and acts of violence, the perpetrators remain free sometimes even to taunt their victims on the street, in the corner shop, in the HIV clinics. This is how Daisy Dube died on the evening of the 2nd June 2008 in Yeoville, Johannesburg.

On the evening of 2 June 2008, five close friends, four proudly self identifying as Drag Queens, went for an outing in Yeoville. Confronted by homophobic hate speech, they challenged three men to stop calling them “izitabane”.

Shortly after 9pm, one of the three men, sitting in a white Corolla, handed a gun to the other friend to “shoot lezitabane”. Twenty five year old Desmond Dube, fondly known as Daisy, died on the scene.

Close friend, Odwa Mbane, who was at the scene described the fear and chaos caused by the assassins. She affirms that the motivation was because of their gender identity and that they were not going to subject themselves to ridicule.

MaNonstikeleo Dube describes her daughter’s pride for who she was, her love for her, sense of responsibility and her great loss of a daughter who had carried her needs and dreams to the day she was brutally murdered.

Daisy Dube was buried at the Thembisa cemetery, following a moving service in Yeoville, attended by many members of the LGBTI community from around Johannesburg.

LGBTI
South Africa

Zoliswa Nkonyana was a 19 year old lesbian woman who was brutally murdered on 4 February 2006 by a mob of 20 men of which only 9 have so far been arrested and charged. The trial has faced delay after delay and has now been scheduled for August 22nd with instructions to all defense attorneys to be prepared.

Members of the 7-7-7 campaign are furious that because there is no legislation on hate crimes in South Africa those arrested will be tried for murder but not for the additional crime of “hate crimes”. The same will apply to those arrested for the murder of Eudy Simelane as well as those (if any) arrested and charged with the murder of immigrants over the past week of violence. By adding the charge of “hate crime” to that of murder the prosecution could call for additional sentencing and it would also serve as a documentation of the murder based on hate. There is an interesting debate in the US on whether or not to legislate for hate crime or make changes where it already exists.

“Violence and brutality against black lesbians go unreported and does not enjoy the same priority, media attention, vigorous police investigation and access to justice as similar crimes in well-resourced urban areas do. Political leaders are quick to condemn crime and violence if they are linked to well-resourced, privileged families. Ordinary women in rural areas and previously disadvantaged communities still find themselves on the margins and periphery of those communities. Activists and human rights defenders need to be vigilant and outspoken so that crimes of hate and violence against vulnerable women, particularly black lesbians, is condemned and uprooted from its very core,” said the Alliance’s spokesperson and provincial convener, Marlow Valentine.
[Read more…]

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Photos from the 7-7-7 Campaign

The five accused of the murder of Eudy Simulane reappeared in court today. The hearing was initially delayed because accused number 5 was appearing in another court on charges of rape and robbery, which he was out on bail for . Once proceedings began, they were further bogged down by technical aspects related to the right of the accused to have legal representation and strategic tactics by one of the accused’s attorneys to have his client’s bail hearing heard separately.

Magistrate Betty Lesufi heard legal aid attorney Mr Mfingwane state he will only represent accused number 5 and not the other three as initially envisaged. In his explanation for this he said he couldn’t represent all four of them as they were pointing fingers at each other. He will continue to represent accused number 5, Tshepo Mphithi, who made a confession last week, the details of which are yet to be released. Mr Hoffman, the attorney for accused number 4, Themba Pitja, brought before the court the motion for his client’s bail hearing to be conducted separately to the others. He also requested that he not be put in the same jail cell due to the fact that his client was receiving threats from the other co-accused.

The state prosecutor, Mr Maloma, objected vehemently to Mr Hoffman’s request, stating that this denies the collective nature of this horrendous crime. Inside a fully packed court, the parents and family members of Eudy, together with activists from a broad base of social movements sat attentively, whilst over three hundred protestors picketed outside the court. Magistrate Lesuffi handed down her ruling on the two motions, citing section 3.4.2 of the Criminal Procedures Act, concluding that there is no reason why accused number 4’s bail hearing should be heard separately given the seriousness of the charges against all 5 of them. She further called on the Legal Aid Board to give preference to this case by assigning attorneys for accused numbers 1,2 & 3 soon. She granted the request for accused number 4 to be kept separately from the others and remanded the case to reconvene on the 26th May at 8:30am. Activists from the 777 Campaign are hoping that the accused will plea on that date but be remanded to remain in custody until judgement, and that there will be no delays in the further investigation and prosecution of this case. The Campaign calls on all activists to remain vigilant and continue to be a visible and vocal presence throughout this process.

Press Release via Alliance for the 777 Campaign National Coordination

Tags:
EUDY SIMELANE
LGBTI
South Africa
Rape + Murder

Two important events from the DRC - The one month campaign against sexual violence in the DRC took place between March 17-April 17th and coincided with a new law to ending the crimininalisation of children by accusing them of witchcraft. The campaign was funded by the UN Population Fund. However the question is in a country where tens of thousands of women have been raped and mutilated why did this campaign end after just one month. What happens now? The rapists remain free, and no one has been called to account for their crimes. Jacques Depelchin of the Otabenga Alliance raises two important questions -

Is it too harsh to ask oneself whether the campaign stopped after one month because that is what had been budgeted by the UN and other supporting NGOs, and agencies? Could it be that in a country like the DRC, moral and ethical values have been so badly eroded that nothing can be done unless one is paid for it–including getting rid of crimes like sexual violence against women and children,? The dominant mindset is not just one that is standing above us. It has taken root within ourselves. It has taken root within the minds of those who are the primary victims of its dominance.

If sexual violence were to be considered, like slavery, as a crime against humanity, would one be so nonchalant toward it? From 1791 through 1804, the Africans who had been enslaved in Haiti got rid of slavery. They did not achieve this through one month campaigns and fundraising exercises. They had no support from outside, no human rights organization

Then, the mindset of the enslavers accepted as normal that Africans were meant to be slaves. Step by step, over centuries, the mindset of the enslavers has enslaved parts of humanity to the notion that women and children are fair game for the abusive sexual behavior and pleasure of men.

The points raised by Jacques are equally applicable to the sexual violence and torture against women in South Africa of whom lesbians are a specific target. The stigma of rape is not on the rapist but on the women who are raped and this is the same mindset whether in the DRC, South Africa, the Niger Delta, Haiti or here in the UK. The UN has the resources to the maintain a continual campaign against sexual violence in the DRC as well as the resources to bring justice to the thousands of women survivors of some of the most horrific acts of sexual violence - Funding a one month campaign is pathetic and in fact could very well cause more harm against women who have come forth and spoken out about the crimes commited against them. What happens to them when the UN is gone and the campaign ended - the rapists remain free.

The second event is the continued assassination threat against Professor Wamba dia Wamba and Deputy Kiakwama of the Otabenga Alliance who has been actively protesting the continued brutality by the government of the DRC against the people of the “Bas-Congo (Lower Congo)–especially toward members of the Bundu dia Kongo (BDK), a “movement for the cultural and spiritual emancipation of the Congo people” For more information on this see the Otabenga Alliance website.

Tags:
DRC
Wamba dia Wamba