Once again another lesbian has been raped, tortured and murdered in South Africa on Monday 28th April. Sizakele Sisgasa and Salome Masooa were tortured and murdered just 10 months ago. Since then lesbians, gays and transsexuals across the continent - Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal and Cameroon, have been attacked and beaten and arrested for simply living their sexuality.

Five young men have been arrested in connection with the rape and brutal murder of Eudy Simelane (31), a former Banyana-Banyana soccer player, and an out lesbian. Her body was found stabbed and mutilated in an open field in Tornado - one of the sections in the Kwa-Thema township, on Monday the 28 April.

The 777 campaign to end hate crimes against LGBTs will be pressurizing the government for a conviction of the suspects of the murder and rape and have already petitioned the courts to deny the suspects bail. The bail hearing is on th 5th of May.

Gays and lesbians are men and women, human beings who deserve equal rights and treatment not to be ridiculed or called names, beaten, tortured, raped or killed. These gross human rights violations are not just inhuman and barbaric - they must not be tolerated! Sizakele and Salomes killers, like everyone else, HAD NO RIGHT TO THREATEN OR KILL THEM!!

Violence against lesbians and gays is unSouth African. Here, oppression and discrimination have no place, still there are parents who reject or kick children out to the streets; siblings, friends and communities who hurt, beat, rape, torture and even kill lesbians and gays. If they survive all this, they face further victimisation at in the hands of the police and even the courts THIS IS NOT JUSTICE AT ALL. People who inflict harm upon and even kill lesbians and gays (or anyone else) do not belong in South Africa. Leaders and communities that do not oppose violence against gays, lesbians, women, children, rape survivors and HIV+ people do not belong here.

“Eudy Simelane, a cherished daughter, a friend, an ardent soccer lover, a SAFA referee, and an unrelenting activist. will be laid to rest on Sunday the 4th May 2007.”

Tags:
LGBTI
South Africa
Rape + Murder

It is a question that bothers me–WHY? WHY do we ask WHY? Especially when we are dealing with issues of women and abuse?

While this thought has occurred to me for a long time, two recent discussions on “BBC Africa Have Your Say” - “Is Mob Justice Justified?” and another on “Pambazuka News Podcast” -”Interview with women in North Kivu” triggered my attention back to this issue. In the February 7 2008interview with female victims of sexual violence and activists, women respondents narrate their ordeal to a Pambazuka field reporter. On, “Is Mob Justice Justified” aired on BBC Africa Have Your Say Tuesday 25 March, most callers supported mob justice arguably because of police corruption and distrust of the criminal justice system. Opponents argued that mob justice could target innocent people, it is barbaric or it interferes with the criminal justice system. Do we really need to ask for justifiability of mob justice against a criminal or perpetrators of violent physical and sexual crimes against women? to ask about justifiability? Should we ask victims to heinous crimes to narrate their ordeal in front of news cameras, courts of law or even researchers?

Believe me, I am a practitioner and activist for criminal justice and allowing the law to take its course. I believe in the constitution and in the inherent rights of people as humans. However, certain things are simply too disgusting for me to fathom. Why should we give a chance to people who violently abuse women, whether sexually or physically to tell us why and how they committed their criminal acts? Especially men who randomly and recklessly abuse females during war, using sex as a weapon of power. Do these men have female siblings, wives, grandmothers, mothers or female friends? Should we really give them a chance to face international criminal tribunals to narrate how they violently inserted male sexual organs, sticks, guns or rough objects inside women’s sexual organs? You will excuse me for being too graphic but this form of abuse bothers me graphically. Why should we grill female victims of this gross sexual abuse to narrate their ordeal to us on Pambazuka news or BBC Africa Have Your Say?
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Although the Nigerian Same Sex Marriage Bill of 2006 appears to be at least temporarily shelved, no one knows if and when it will reappear. For the moment the focus is on another proposed “morality” legislation, the Dress Code Bill sponsored by Senator Eme Ekatte, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women and Youth Affairs. At first glance her logic is beyond belief but when looked at in the context of the fundamentalist religious movement led by Bishop Akinola on the one side and Sharia advocates on the other, is it really so surprising? What we have is a country of Jekyll’s and Hyde’s, obsessed by religion and morality one minute and condoning infidelity and silent on sexual and physical child abuse, the next. Despite the wide condemnation of the Bill in the press, reading between the lines there is still the widely held belief that women and girls are the seducers of men.

Mrs Ekatte.……..indecent dressing promotes “vices in the society, we are seeing a lot of moral decadence in the society today.” She says her bill will help “to preserve cultural norms and values”. Hear her: “If you want to wear something, I believe that there are certain parts of the body that must be covered. You cannot go naked in the name of fashion.”

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A Cameroonian woman has been awarded £15,000 in compensation for unlawful detention for 8 months at Yarl’s Wood detention center. The woman arrived in Britain and claimed asylum on the basis of being raped and tortured by the police in Cameroon. She was denied the correct procedure for torture victims and eventually refused asylum. It was only at the point of deportation that she was able to access any support, in this case by Women Against Rape* who work work with many women detainees who have lost their asylum claims.

“[The] ruling is a fantastic victory and sets a crucial precedent for many other women in detention,” said a WAR spokeswoman yesterday. “Like PB, many women have had their cases fast-tracked and been detained, denied legal representation, medical and other expert help, and implementation of the Home Office’s own rules which should have secured their release.

“Instead, women, and often their children, suffer months imprisoned in terrible circumstances and many are sent back to the countries they fled, often never having had the help they needed to report rape, or to gather evidence needed to challenge the routine dismissal of rape as grounds for asylum.”

Only last week I met a former detainee who spoke about her imprisonment at Yarl’s Wood. She spoke about women with children who were sexually harassed and abused, verbally abused and beaten and imprisoned in horrendous conditions. For more on Yarl’s Wood see here and here and here.

*Women Against Rape and Black Women Against Rape were two of the organisations marching with the ECP at last weeks IWD rally whose members have been ridiculed, dismissed and subject to lies and name calling in the Guardian’s CiF and on various blogs in Britain and elsewhere.

Tags:
Yarl’s Wood
Cameroon
Asylum Seekers
Black Britain

*** Freedom Rider on the “Obama Cult”. What a relief.

They are every where, like pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. If you don’t fall asleep and turn into a pod person too, they are out to get you.

I mean Obama supporters of course. If their adoration for cynical nothingness wasn’t so dangerous it would be funny.

*** Kameelah Writes is hyped up on Wax Poetic and Holga cameras and refuses to apologise for her “lack of excitement” over the primaries.

*** One I missed is Mike Tyson’s visit to South Africa and his hope of meeting with Winnie Mandela - WHAT! and Jacob Zuma - no surprise there. Loudrastress publishes a press releases asking people not to welcome Tyson in a country “where 1 in 4 women are beaten by their male partners and 1 in 3 are likely to be raped in their life time”

Last year over 52 000 rapes were recorded in South Africa - of which approximately 20 000 victims were girls under the age of 18. Although these figures are already horrendous, it is widely agreed that they are significantly inaccurate and that the real rate of rape is much higher but unreported.

Given this mantle of violence under which South African women must live, Mike Tyson is a highly insulting choice for a hero, and any suggestion that he has “changed” must be treated with the contempt it deserves: his conversion to Islam whilst serving a prison term for rape some years ago certainly made no noticeable difference to his attitude towards women, and only 3 months ago he was convicted of drug abuse and drunken driving. If newspaper reports are to be believed, it seems Tyson never misses an opportunity to demean and vilify women (see attached quotes). Is this has-been athlete with an on-going penchant for violating women someone South Africans should lionize? Is this a man we should present to South African children as someone to admire and emulate?

*** African Path reports on the merging of Tampax, Always and HERO (an awareness building and fundraising initiative of the UN).

“Working with HERO, the Protecting Futures program brings together the brands’ global resources to help make a positive impact on these young girls by improving access to feminine hygiene products as well as education and health services,” said Michelle Vaeth, Protecting Futures Program Director for P&G. “Through this program, Tampax and Always will help build an infrastructure that – with support from local and national governments - can give children in these communities the chance to reach their full potential.”

*** From Stereohyped’s Daily Dose of BHM on Wilma Rudolph, who despite having polio as a child, became the first American to win three gold medals at the Olympics.

She won a bronze medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, but it was during hte 1960 Rome Olympics that she broke the record with three gold medals. After retiring from sports, Rudolph became a teacher and sports commentator. She died of brain cancer in 1994.

*** Haitian Justice reminds us there is still no news on Haitian activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine who has been missing since 11th August last year. The third annual solidarity with the Haitian people takes place on February 29th. Finally the publication of the book by Peter Hallwood, Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment.

*** Sabbah publishes an extract from the “US Campaign to end Israeli Occupation - “$2.55 billion in military aid to Israel”…. One of the comments writes

Bush wont listen.
It doesn’t matter what anyone says. BUSH WONT LISTEN.
As much as most of the world hates OBL, Bush is the same person, only just on the other side.
Until Bush is gone there will be pandering for the Israelis.
After that event, there will be more pandering.
AIPAC controls the US.

The more important question is, if he becomes President, WILL OBAMA LISTEN?