Hate rapes in Cape wheatlands
media, a lot of focus is on black lesbians in township areas. And, while it is absolutely true that this happens, rural areas are completely overlooked. In any kind of service provision, any kind of support, rural areas are completely overlooked,” she says, adding that this is “a common phenomenon, not only to the Witzenberg area, but to all rural areas”.
The “high levels of intolerance, prejudice and violence” found in areas such as Witzenberg are fuelled by “very high levels of fundamentalist faith beliefs”.
“Church and God are really important to people in rural areas; one often sees a very fundamentalist understanding of God and religion. This then ties in with ANTI-LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer] rhetoric,” she says. “Along with that, you have these very toxic masculinities playing themselves out, because the targets of these hate crimes are gay men and transgender women. It’s never been a lesbian. So it also tells us something about toxic masculinities.”
Cox adds that, in all the violent cases reported, the victims “were degraded by using the words ‘moffie’; ‘jou vuil moffie’ or, in David’s case, ‘come and see how I kill this moffie’ ”.
“It’s ironic, particularly in the rapes, that it is straight-identifying males that are raping gay males. But they themselves are not shameful about the fact that they have done that. It’s like they are doing it with pride, teaching this person or punishing this person. In rural areas, we see this over and over again.”
Years after the man who raped Daniel “Daantjie” Thomas was given a suspended sentence, Thomas is still angry about what he sees as a miscarriage of justice.
It was after a wedding reception in 2014 that Thomas decided to walk back to his home in Tulbagh, taking a shortcut through “die wit mense se gebied [the white people’s area]”. After a hard kick to his back forced him to the ground, Thomas’s attacker dragged him to a secluded lane, where he was kicked, beaten and raped. For added humiliation, his assailant penetrated him with a beer bottle and a stick before pissing on him.
“Meneer, ek het erg geskeur en gebloei [Sir, I was badly torn and bleeding],” the 29-year-old recalls. “Hy het vir my geskend. Okay, ek is gay, maar, jy weet, hy het my maagd letterlik weggeneem. As jy ’n maagd is wil jy dit vir iemand spesiaals gee. Maar hy het my gedamage vir die reste van my lewe, so voel ek. Dis net nie reg nie. As jy mooi kyk is dit ons mense wat uitgeroei word, gemoor word, verkrag word, geslat word, doodgemaak, especially hier by ons in die Witzenberg area. [He scarred me. Yes, I am gay, but, you know, he literally took my virginity. If you’re a virgin, you want to give that to someone special. But he damaged me for the rest of my life. It’s not right. If you look carefully, it is our people who are being obliterated, murdered, raped, beaten, killed, especially here in the Witzenberg area].
“Ons as gay, lesbian of transgender mense is die mense wat die gemeenskap dood maak of seer maak. Ons het nooit ’n reg regtig nie. Ek weet nie wat dit is nie. Ek het hier in die Witzenberg area groot geword en, regtig, dit is ’n groot bedreiging vir ons as gays en lesbians en transgender mense. Ons regte word weggeneem van ons. [We as gay, lesbian and transgender people are the people who the community is killing or hurting. We never really have any rights. I don’t know what it is. I grew up here in the Witzenberg area and, really, it is a major threat for us as queer people. Our rights are being taken away from us].”
Because of the high levels of discrimination against queer people in the area, Thomas stuck to his guns and took the matter to court, despite the threats he faced.
“Ek was geintimideer en gedreig, maar ek het gestaan … Ek het gestaan. [I was intimidated and threatened but I stood … I stood].”
Ambraal is also standing firm by not dropping the case against his attackers. Although he lost the first case, primarily because of a lack of DNA evidence — the result of not reporting it for months after it took place — the second case is due to commence in February.
Since reporting “die voorvalle”, Ambraal has been offered bribes by his attackers to drop the charges and his life has been threatened.
“Ek is bang. Nou meer as ooit. [I am scared. Now more than ever].” But his fear is not enough to dissuade him from his pursuit of justice.
Fabian Saim, a member of the Bella Vista Community Policing Forum, says that, since Ambraal’s alleged attackers were arrested, crime in the area has dropped significantly.
“There are no more gang fights in the area, because they are a gang. No more assaults, rape, theft and burglaries. Marchillino is seen as something of a hero in our community because nobody has stood up to this gang before. Everyone has always stood back because they are scared,” says Saim.
Cox concurs: “Marchillino is incredibly brave. First, he is brave in taking it to the police and the court in the first place. Very soon after he reported it and the case got going, people started coming forward saying our streets are safer. He very quickly got the sense that he wasn’t doing this only for himself. But despite the danger and the threats, he is carrying on going.
“He is very soft-spoken and introverted and not somebody who easily shares about how he feels. So court is a difficult enough process. But in the face of that all, he has continued. He is persevering.”
Ambraal adds: “Hulle het ’n deel van my gevat wat ek voel ek is nie die mens wat ek tevore was nie. Ek kan nie ... ek kan dit net nie aanvaar nie. [They took away a part of me that makes me feel like I am not the person I was before. I can’t ... I can’t accept it].” Forcing back the tears threatening to push their way through his lashes, he says: “Dit het my so aangeraak. Ek sal nie opgee nie. Ek wil geregtigheid sien. [It really affected me. I won’t give up. I want to see justice done].”