QUEER RIGHTS: STILL A POLITICAL SCAPEGOAT IN AFRICA

LGBTIQ+ rights continue to be a flashpoint in Africa, where the rights of LGBTIQ+ people have become a wedge issue, positioned for political ripples and effect. This conflict is coming head-to-head between LGBTIQ+ human rights defenders and political figures and the demand for meaningful engagement.

The journey to advancing and realizing LGBTIQ+ inclusion in human rights in Southern Africa has been met by a series of successes and challenges by human rights defenders, activists and the LGBTIQ+ community and community leaders including politicians. Patriarchal and heteronormative cultural structures largely exacerbate the socioeconomic,

political, and systemic exclusion of sexual and gender minorities.

Personal, societal, and culturalreligious beliefs influence political and systemic attitudes and behaviors towards LGBTIQ+ people; many times, we have heard political figures claim that being LGBTIQ+ is unAfrican and that there is no space for LGBTIQ+ rights in Africa. They believe that taking up what is considered controversial as declared by former Botswana President Festus Mogae on BBC in 2013 would be political suicide.

The same sentiments, however, still exist today.

During his inauguration, the current President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, promised to protect the human rights of all Zambians regardless of whatever sets them apart. However, in recent times, President Hichilema has come out to speak out against promoting and protecting LGBTIQ+ rights actively. In September 2021, after what could be argued as pressure from the public and opposition, his sentiments changed, and he said that “the Zambian Constitution is clear on issues of gay and lesbian rights; hence such allegations are just meant to malign his administration and should not be entertained.” The same sentiments can be made of Botswana’s President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, who, in 2018, said, “There are also many people of same-sex relationships in this country, who have been violated and have also suffered in silence for fear of being discriminated. Just like other citizens, they deserve to have their rights protected,” nonetheless, in 2019, his government attempted to recriminalize the High Court ruling that decriminalized consensual same sex-sexual relations in 2017, which had afforded the rights to freedoms of dignity, privacy and protection to LGBTIQ+ persons in Botswana. It can be argued that both Presidents use a tone of hiding behind the country’s laws and that they do not have the power or influence to change laws, which is not the case. Laws are amended to ensure the inclusion and protection of vulnerable groups in society who need it. For a sitting President to claim that they only follow what is in the law but cannot change laws especially for LGBTIQ+ rights, constitutes a lack of courage and promotes injustice. Citizens including those who identify as LGBTIQ+ vote and entrust leaders into power with the understanding that they would represent them. Laws and policies are not meant to be unchangeable but rather be amended to speak to and protect all people in all our diverse forms.

In a change of legislative trends, the Zimbabwean government accepted two recommendations made to her at the just-ended United Nations’ human rights monitoring mechanism, the Universal Periodic Review cycle. The first one was to protect the rights of intersex minors from unconsented body mutilation and to protect sexual and gender minorities and vulnerable persons such as children, women and LGBTIQ+ persons.

This is an outstanding achievement especially after years of LGBTIQ+ people being subjected to routine detention, raids, and violent attacks in Zimbabwe. In Lesotho, the first openly transman entered politics to change the narrative and perceptions of how transgender persons are viewed. This is a landmark step in political inclusion and aims for visibility and involvement in governance at the policy level; as the rights of

LGBTIQ+ persons continue to be a political chess pawn, much work from various angles to ensure legislative, policy and environmental inclusion still needs to be done to close the rights discourse in the region.

LGBTIQ+ activists developed a Regional Agenda for Change in March 2022, for the Southern African Development Community member states to end all acts of violence and abuse whether committed by State or non-state actors, by enacting and effectively applying appropriate laws prohibiting and punishing all forms of violence, including those targeting persons based on their imputed or actual sexual orientation or gender identities, ensuring proper investigation and diligent prosecution of perpetrators, and establishing judicial procedures responsive to the needs of victims.

With elections approaching across the region there is a call for politicians to fearlessly promote and protect fundamental human rights and desist from making LGBTIQ+ people scapegoats in exchange for political gains.