Another victim of township’s sadistic ‘cure’
Lesbian’s hateful killing sparks calls for new law
THE township of Thokoza, east of Johannesburg, was a hotbed of homophobia and violence against lesbians, locals said this week.
Residents and civil rights groups are hoping that the latest murder — that of Duduzile Zozo — will result in tough action and special laws to deal with hate crimes.
For the 26-year-old, death came brutally and painfully. The way her attackers left her body — naked and impaled by a toilet brush — seemed to show what they thought of her. She had been robbed of dignity, pride and the right to choose who she loved.
Her body was found on a neglected piece of land behind a neighbour’s wall — a few metres from the rented shack she shared with her mother and siblings.
Before her attack, Zozo had seen what happened to lesbians in the township. Two years ago, the body of a close friend, Nokuthula Radebe, was found in an abandoned building in Everest, Thokoza. According to the Forum for the Empowerment of Women website, Radebe’s body was found on March 28 2011 with her pants down and her face covered with plastic. She had been strangled with her shoelaces. The case is still being investigated.
A number of women have been murdered for their sexual orientation in the past decade. They include:
Zoliswa Nkonyana, whose murder sparked outrage across South Africa. The 19-year-old from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, was beaten, stabbed and stoned to death just metres from her home in 2006. It took six years to bring her killers to book;
Gender activist Noxolo Nogwaza, who was found stabbed and stoned in a ditch in KwaThema near Springs in 2011. Used condoms, a beer bottle and a large rock were found near her body. No one has been arrested for her murder; and
Banyana Banyana player Eudy Simelane, who was raped and killed in KwaThema in 2008. Two of her attackers are serving lengthy jail terms.
The gay rights group OUT said it believed there had been an increase in this type of crime in the past few years.
There’s a lot of homophobia here in the township . . . There are people who think we chose to be different
OUT director Dawie Nel said research conducted in 2003 showed that 10% of black lesbians in Gauteng had been subjected to rape or sexual violence because of being homosexual.
The Hate Crimes Working Group has called for separate legislation and better policing to deal with such crimes.
The group’s chairwoman, Iole Matthews, said this would help to monitor the extent of these crimes, as well as their suc- cessful prosecution.
“Hate crimes often take place in an environment where discrimination against particular groups is socially accepted . . . Hate crimes are different not just because of the prejudice motive, but also because of the traumatic effect on their victims,” said Matthews.
People in Thokoza said this week that crime statistics were not an accurate reflection of the amount of sexual violence that takes place. They said homophobia was rife in townships, where lesbians were raped to “cure” them.
Last year, the township recorded 40 murders — the lowest number since 2004. A total of 85 sexual crimes were reported.
Thokoza and its neighbours, Katlehong and Vosloorus, jointly recorded 472 sexual crimes between April 2011 and March 2012. Just five years ago, 620 sexual violence cases were reported in a similar period.
These figures are only for those attacks reported to police.
Zozo’s distraught mother, Thuziwe, said she was haunted by the image of her daughter’s naked body.
She rushed to the scene when she heard the screams of the two young boys who discovered the body.
“Even though I could see it was Dudu, I somehow didn’t believe that was my daughter in that condition,” she said.
The South African Human Rights Commission has condemned Zozo’s murder.
Spokesman Isaac Mangena said: “While the right to equality enshrined in the constitution protects people from being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, it is absolutely imperative that this constitutional right is given effect to by all members of society”.
The minister for women, children and people with disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, said she was “disgusted and hurt” by attacks on homosexuals, calling on communities to report such crimes.
But Xingwana’s concern has a hollow ring. Three years ago, she walked out of Zanele Muholi’s Innovative Women exhibition at Johannesburg’s Constitutional Hill because it showed images of naked women embracing.
Xingwana called the exhibi- tion “immoral” and against “nation-building”.
“Our mandate is to promote social cohesion and nationbuilding,” she said at the time. “I left the exhibition because it expressed the very opposite of this.”
On Thursday, the gay and les- bian community of Kathorus (Katlehong, Vosloorus and Thokoza) came out in numbers in a candle-lighting prayer ceremony for Zozo.
They chanted: “Ngiyistaban (I’m a staban).” Staban is township slang for gays.
Others told of how they were verbally harassed and ridiculed every day on the street because they are openly gay or lesbian.
Jabulile Hadebe, who was close to both Zozo and Radebe, said: “There’s just a lot of homophobia here in the township . . . There are people who think we chose to be different.”