Greeting from Archbischop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
You are created in God's image!
| Zoliswa Nkonyane murder trial on 22 Aug 2008 |  |  |  |
| Thursday, 21 August 2008 02:00 | |||
Western Cape End Hate Campaign
At the Alliance meeting hosted by Triangle Project, a human rights NGO advocating for the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Intersexed persons, alliance partners reiterated their commitment and determination to exert pressure on the State to ensure that Zoliswas family is guaranteed justice for her gruesome murder. Because there is no legislation around hate crimes in South Africa, Zoliswas case will be tried as an ordinary murder. Violence and brutality against black lesbians go unreported and do not enjoy the same priorities, media attention, vigorous police investigation and high-profiled access to justice as gender-based murders in urban areas. Political leaders are quick to condemn crime and violence if they are linked to well-resourced, privileged families. Ordinary women caught up in rural areas and previously disadvantaged communities still find themselves on the periphery of those communities. Activists and human rights defenders need to be vigilant and outspoken so that crimes of hate and violence against all women, particularly black lesbians, are condemned and stopped. There is an increase of fundamentalism and misogynist behaviour based in power, oppression and patriarchy by heterosexual men. These men believe its their right to correct lesbian women because they are not involved in sexual relationships with men. Women are still seen as commodities who are owned by men, especially in township and rural communities where the daily lived realities are far removed from our constitutional rights. Class, race, privilege and gender-inequalities are all contributing factors to archaic and fundamentalist hetero-sexist values. The End Hate Campaign, which include active partners such as the Commission for Gender Equality; AIDS Legal Network; Gender DynamiX; Good Hope MCC; Free Gender; The TAC; The Inner Circle; Inclusive & Affirming Ministries; Engender; Intersex SA; community activists and leaders, will be monitoring A public protest will be conducted between 09h00 and 11h00. The alliance advocates for an end to all forms of violence, hatred, brutality and victimization against the LGBTI community. We further condemn For more information regarding the WC End Hate Campaign, please e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The WC End Hate is an alliance provincial organisations from the LGBTI, Women and HIV and AIDS sectors as well as individual human rights activists and human rights defenders, working to end all forms of crimes of hate.
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As the country celebrates National Womens Month, the Western Cape End Hate Campaign repeated its call to end homophobia and heterosexist violence against Lesbian and Bisexual women, particularly those living in townships and rural areas. Activists and alliance partners are preparing for a public demonstration in condemning the actions of 9 youths accused of brutally stoning to death Zoliswa Nkonyane in February 2006 because of her sexual orientation. Despite a stern warning by Magistrate Watton at the previous court appearance to all six defense attorneys to be fully prepared for a trial hearing on the 22nd August 2008 and that no further delays would be condoned, activists have raised concerns that further postponements are inevitable due to lack of preparation by the State.
