South African lesbians live in fear of 'corrective rape'
Murdered football star Eudy Simelane is just one of many township women violently assaulted to 'cure' their sexuality
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In the antiseptic setting of a modern courthouse in a town near Johannesburg, the life and death of a young sports star is being dissected. She was no ordinary young woman. An outstanding footballer, she had captained her country and was hoping to be the first female to referee at a World Cup. But her brutal death, and the apparent motive for it, is all too ordinary here. For Eudy Simelane was a lesbian, and this, say campaigners, was why she was raped and savagely murdered.
This is the land of "corrective rape". Despite South Africa having one of the most enlightened constitutions in the world, traditional views about sexuality still run deep. In many quarters, especially male ones, lesbians are resented, perhaps even feared. And to some young men the remedy is simple: rape.
Each year, ActionAid estimates, 500,000 women are raped in South Africa, with lesbians a particular target. The warped logic is that the assault will "cure" them. As a result, says ActionAid, 86 per cent of black lesbians live in fear of rape. Their anxiety is understandable: only a minority of rapes are reported to the police and, of these, only one in five ends up in court, with a meagre 4 per cent of them ending in a conviction.
So when, on the night of 28 April 2008, Eudy Simelane left her local tavern in the small township of Kwa Thema, she would, for all her athleticism and strength, have cause to be wary. The following facts of that night are not in doubt: Simelane, a recognisable sports star and openly lesbian, was ambushed in a public park. She was raped, perhaps many times, and then repeatedly and frenziedly stabbed, leaving 25 visible wounds from her face down to her feet. Her body was found partially clothed, face-down in a creek.
Her close friend, Pretty, said: "Her blood and clothes were still everywhere but the police had just left it all there. I will never forget her dad on his hands and knees wiping up the blood with his hands."
Several men were arrested. On 13 February this year, one of them, Thato Mphiti, was tried alone, pleaded guilty, and was convicted of Simelane's rape and murder. He was sentenced to 31 years behind bars. Last week, the trial began of three men also charged with Simelane's rape and murder. They pleaded not guilty, saying they were mere onlookers. They were due to have been tried last month, but proceedings were delayed because Mphiti changed his story and took sole responsibility for the rape and murder. Although Simelane's lesbianism was not allowed to be part of the first trial, it was raised in that of the three other men, which continues.
South African human rights organisations such as Triangle, claim Mphiti's trial resulted in the first conviction out of 30 cases of lesbian murder in the past decade. All too common are cases like the murders of Sizakele Sigasa, a HIV campaigner, and Salome Massooa, who, in 2007, were gang-raped, tortured and then killed with a shot to their heads. Men were questioned about these crimes, but no one has yet been brought to trial for them.
In 2008, the country's Human Rights Commission reported a growing phenomenon of "corrective rape" in schools across the country.
ActionAid reported in March this year: "Support groups now say that rape is fast becoming the most widespread hate crime against lesbian women in townships across South Africa. One Cape Town lesbian and gay support group says it is dealing with 10 new cases every week. It is a toll that shows no sign of decreasing."
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Comments
What a ridiculous and idiotic thing to say. Yes I'm sure women are happy to be subjugated and oppressed. For your information a lot of women in Muslim countries are NOT happy. They have a problem with being treated like as subhuman just because of some stupid man that lived thousands of years ago and wrote a book that people follow blindly. That is why there are women risking their lives in place such as Afghanistan to try and create a world where women can be treated as equals in their own country.
Human rights abuses are EVERYONE'S business.
"Obviously South African men feel "offended" by the sight of lesbians - so who are we to even question this visceral reaction." They have no right to be offended by something like this, and yes we should question this reaction because women are being MURDERED. Stop using all this Euro centric/imperialistic bulls**t as an excuse not to care.
I'm a South African male. I'm offended that you think it is a customary practice to rape and murder lesbians and that it shouldn't be condemed from overseas. It is condemned within South Africa, too.
It is a rather condescending attitude you have that you think any commentary on any news coming from South Africa doesn't deserve comment for "fear" of being labelled neo-colonialist.
That's an ethnocentrism in itself.
I suspect perhaps you're a troll, seeking some sort of harsh retort to inane comments.
So nope, bringing "human rights" to other countries it's NOT everybody's business . History has shown that using the excuse to bring freedom, democracy and better moral values have always ended in genocide. That's a FACT.
Don't speak for me, since I'm a Muslim woman, and I'm NOT oppressed, nor I'm feeling like a subhuman. That's idiotic propaganda and simplistic approach of the whitties like you, who feel sooooooo superior. They believe they way of life is the only valid one. I have news for you: it's NOT. It might be cool for you. Fine, go ahead, live it. That's fine with me.
What I will NOT tolerate, and I will fight to stop, is people like you trying to impose their way of life on me, because they think is best for me. Paternalistic view if I ever saw one. the white man's burden song once again. Ask Native Americas and Africans and Asians about the nice touch of civilizing Europe in their lands. We don't want it anymore. Mind you own business, we'll mind our own. This chaos in the world is cause because you peopled wanted to "make a better world". You only exported misery and murder. If we want to chan ge things, we will do it. I n our own terms. Europe didn't build itself in a decade. It took centuries of struggles and social chan ges to reach at your present. We have the right to build our own path, as much as you did. Exporting values is not the way, because they are NOT universal. They depend of the culture, time and place.
I'm tired when the whites rage against us when we don't say "yes bwana" and bend over to be (culturaly) raped, errr, sorry to be civilized.
Don't speak about what you don't know, you haven't seen or you don't understand.
It's like I judged the whole British culture for incidents like the hooligans' battle that happened a few days ago, or because a few British tourists are basically drunken barbarians when outside their country. These are isolated events and cases, and do not represent the British society as a whole. Then why do you insist in representing South African society for a few hate crimes happening there? Surely there are hundreds of hate incidents in the UK, right? Is then the UK an hate crime society? That would be a very silly way to generalize.
There are cases of abuse and some Muslim societies needs to leave their customs behind, but not all Muslim women are unhappy, or are treated as subhumans, so DO NOT GENERALIZE. It's racist and colonialist thinking.
AS much as you fought against the Germans to defend your nation, anyone else will defend their country against foreign invasion. Why is this concept so hard to catch? It's not about you being the good boys, bringing a better way of life. It's about you occupying countries not your own. That's what the inhabitants see, and fight against. I'm sure the Nazis believed that they were doing a good thing, by following their ideas and principles and attempting to spread their ideology through the world. Their war machine and power didn't make their ideas good or right, and they were fought over when they invaded other countries. Learn the lesson once and for all, and stop preaching, and stop invading to impose values that aren't our own. But over all, stop being surprised when we refuse to bend over and accept what we don't want: your values.
In any case, we will build our own, and IT'S OUR RIGHT to do so. We don't need white daddies to tell us how. We will build our own laws, and NO, they don't have to fit the western approved Human Rights to be right. They just have to be approved by the majority of the inhabitants of the land where they apply. And if you don't like it, though. NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
I wish only peace to all.
J