Gay haters defying the constitution

TODAY, our thoughts are with Noluvo Swelindawo, a 22-year-old resident of Driftsands, Khayelitsha, who was murdered on Saturday night – for being a lesbian.

The majority of South Africans are law-abiding citizens who believe in the ethos of “live and let live”, who subscribe to principles that revolve around free choice, and therefore in the rights of their adult associates, neighbours and fellow citizens to freely choose their friends, lovers and life partners.

This is what we dreamed would happen when we voted in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

In this regard, we would like to call on all communities in the Western Cape to take a moment to think back to a critical moment in South Africa’s development as a country almost 20 years ago…

On December 10, 1996, President Nelson Mandela signed the final draft of our constitution into law at Sharpeville, Vereeniging. Eight days later – on December 18 – it was promulgated in the Government Gazette.

It was a document that was the envy of the world, for it guaranteed the rights of our compatriots across every region of South Africa. But it was acknowledged, even in those heady moments, that the measure of its effectiveness would depend on our responses to its contents.

Let us remember we will get out of the constitution only what we are prepared to put into it.

Swelindawo’s murder tells us too many South Africans pay lip service to our constitution, often treating it with contempt – and this must stop.

Section 9 (3), of this wonderful document, under the heading “Equality”, states clearly: “The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.”

Swelindawo’s sexual orientation was no one’s business but her own. This is why we are calling on the police to work relentlessly towards tracking down and arresting these callous brutes.

We are convinced there are people in Driftsands who know who her killers are. Our appeal is: turn them in.

Go to the police and tell them what you know – or anonymously call 0860 010 111 toll free, or SMS 32211.