We will always remember you

THEOLIN TEMBO

IN THE past month alone, the brutal deaths of numerous members of the LGBTQIA+ community have shown that while the community has a lot to celebrate, the fight is not over.

Pride Month is a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community. It allows us to celebrate how far the community has come but it is also a reminder of how far we still have to go.

In honouring that, it is important to remember there are many of our community members who are brutalised and killed for who they are.

It’s been a little over a year since the murder of renowned dancer and international award-winning choreographer Kirvan Fortuin, 28, of Macassar, and still, the gruesome brutality against, and killings of, LGBTQIA+ community members continue.

Fortuin was stabbed in the chest during an altercation at a house party in June last year. The 15-year-old girl who pleaded guilty to stabbing Fortuin to death was sentenced in March to staying in a juvenile centre until age 21.

Fortuin was also well-known within the ballroom scene as he was the mother of ballroom house, “House of le Cap”. His death was mourned by many across the arts industry, including RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage.

“All you beautiful children in the House of le Cap, I am so sorry. So devastatingly sorry about the tragic loss of your beautiful house mother, Kirvan. I wish I could tell why things like this happen, and continue to happen… but I can’t. What I can tell you is that you are loved. You have always been loved.

“You are perfect, and I need you to continue moving forward in the name of peace, in the name of love for your beautiful mother, who shall now always rest in power.

“It is heartbreaking that as the anniversary of his death comes, we are still experiencing the continued killing of queer bodies in the country,” she said.

Last year Lindokuhle Cele, an LGBTQIA+ gender activist died after he was stabbed 21 times in full view of the public at an uMlazi butchery. Following the brutal homophobic attack, Mvuyisi Noguda was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment by the Durban High Court.

Recently, Anele Bhengu, a 22-year-old woman from KwaMakhutha in KwaZuluNatal was raped and stabbed repeatedly. Her throat and abdomen were slit. Bhengu’s body was found dumped in the Durban south township.

The body of Lulama Mvandaba was discovered after she was allegedly assaulted on June 5. Her family said they believed she was targeted because of her sexuality.

Mvandaba’s death comes after the murder of several gay and lesbian people across the Western Cape. Liyabona Mabishi, 16, from Nkanini, Khayelitsha, was murdered in March on Human Rights Day by five men for allegedly being lesbian.

In April the body of Lonwabo Jack, a 22-yearold gay man, was found in Mau Mau, Nyanga, with stab wounds to the chest after he had gone out with friends for his birthday party the previous day. He was allegedly raped before he was stabbed.

Phelokazi Ndlwana, 24, was stabbed to death in Khayelitsha last month because she lived openly as a lesbian.

In recent months, LGBTQIA+ deaths from around the country included that of Bonang Gaelae, 29, whose throat was slashed in Sebokeng on February 12; and Nonhlanhla Kunene, 37, whose body was found half naked in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, on March 5.

Sphamandla Khoza, 34, was beaten, stabbed and had his throat slit on March 29 in KwaMashu, Durban.

Nathaniel “Spokgoane” Mbele was stabbed in the chest in Tshirela, Vanderbijlpark, on April 2.

The body of Andile “Lulu” Nthuthela, 41, mutilated and burnt, was found on April 10, in KwaNobuhle, Kariega.

These are just some of the deaths that have been reported. They need to end. There are others whose deaths go unreported and/ or untold. Following a recent increase in attacks against sexual minorities, parliament has been urged to finalise the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, aimed at reducing offensive speech and curbing hate crimes in South Africa. It was introduced in 2016 but has yet to be enacted.

Film-maker and activist Tutu Zondo said the LGBTQIA+ community was suffering.

“We’re being gruesomely killed, raped and not treated as equal members of society. South Africa is one of the leading countries when it comes to correctional rape against lesbian women. The average lifespan of a black trans woman is only 35 – almost half that of the average South African. Something needs to be done,” Zondo said. Zondo organised a march to honour Ntuthela, and at the march, they handed over a memorandum to parliament.

One of the demands included in the memorandum was for Parliament to fast track the enacting of the Hate Crimes Bill, and also for a debate on Hate Crimes – specifically those directed to LGBTQIA+ rights.

Meanwhile, QueerLivesMatter movement representative Kamva Gwana said the realities faced by black queer people in the country had not received any meaningful attention from the government. “Part of our demands listed in our memorandum to the Speaker of parliament in April is to call out politicians, the government and the SAPS to firstly condemn these attacks.

“We are calling on parliament to hold an urgent debate centring on hate crimes and the lived realities of the LGBTQIA+ community at large, and the SAPS and Department of Justice to sensitise itself in dealing with crimes inflicted against queer bodies.

“We find that many of our members do not come forward to report crimes because they fear the institutionalised homophobia and judgement they face at the SAPS and others,” said Gwana.

Gwana said society has done little meaningfully to integrate members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Dr Nyx McLean, a researcher of queer identities, explained that hate crimes are rooted in irrational fear and hatred towards queer people.

“Murders, in particular, say something about how deeply pathological this fear and hatred is – to be so entirely threatened by an LGBTQIA+ person that you take their life from them.

“This requires a serious intervention at all levels in society, beyond laws and policies.

“If men were truly comfortable in their sense of self in the world, they would not be threatened by LGBTQIA+ people – or women as we see with gender-based violence.”

ANELE BHENGU

We will always remember you

Lindokuhle Cele

*Additional reporting by Mthuthuzeli Ntseku and Mwangi Githahu