Hate crimes: The rise of 'corrective' rape in South Africa - Rape Outcry

Hate crimes: The rise of ‘corrective’ rape in South Africa Hate crimes: The rise of ‘corrective’ rape in South AfricaThe problemThe victims“Whilst we are mindful of the fact that hate crimes – especially of a sexual nature– are rife, it is not something that the SouthAfrican government has prioritised as aspecific project.” Statement from South Africa’s NationalProsecuting Authority, January 2009.South Africa has one of the most progressiveconstitutions in the world, pledging equality forall citizens and protection from discriminationon the grounds of gender, race and sexualorientation. But these ideals are rarely translatedinto everyday practice.The Equality Act, passed in 2000, specificallyoutlaws so-called ‘hate crimes’, wherepeople are targeted purely because of theiridentification as part of a group. Although intheory this includes crimes on the basis of sexualorientation, in practice the only cases that havebeen brought to trial are on the basis of raceand gender.This failure to implement the promises of theconstitution in defence of lesbians and gays,and a legal and criminal justice system that islargely unresponsive to the problem, means thatattackers are rarely brought to justice.And a culture of rape is already being passeddown to younger generations of South Africanmen. Last year a report by South Africa’s HumanRights Commission expressed alarm at the“growing phenomenon of ‘corrective’ rape” inschools across the country, with young boysbelieving that lesbian girls need to be raped inorder to ‘correct’ their sexual orientation. 6Support groups now say that rape is fastbecoming the most widespread hate crimeagainst lesbian women in townships acrossSouth Africa. 7 One Cape Town lesbian and gaysupport group says it is dealing with 10 newcases every week, with numbers rising fast. 8And it is black lesbians from townships – wholack sufficient support systems and are alreadydisadvantaged by cultural, economic and socialdiscrimination – who are particularly at risk. Gayrights group Triangle’s 2008 research revealedthat, while 44% of white lesbians from theWestern Cape lived in fear of sexual assault,86% of their black counterparts felt the same. 9“Every day you feel like it’s a time-bombwaiting to go off, you don’t have freedom ofmovement, you don’t have your space to doas you please, you are always scared andyour life always feels restricted. As womenand as lesbians we need to be very awarethat it is a fact of life that we are in danger,all women are in danger.”Phumla, Soweto, Johannesburg.On Sunday 7 July 2007, the bodies ofSizakele Sigasa and Salome Massooa werefound in a field in Meadowlands, close to theJohannesburg township where they both lived.The murders were particularly shocking becauseof the brutality of the attacks the women hadbeen subjected to before their deaths. Both hadbeen gang-raped and tortured before being tiedwith their underwear and shot, execution-style,through the head.Sizakele was one of the first women inMeadowlands to live openly as a lesbian, andwas a well-known gay and women’s rightsactivist and HIV campaigner. On the night ofthe murders, both women had been drinkingin a local bar and, according to eyewitnesses,suffered homophobic abuse by a crowd ofpeople when they left to go home.Nearly two years after their deaths, no one hasbeen brought to justice for the crime. Policeinitially detained and then released three men,while another suspect committed suicide beforepolice arrived to make an arrest. The case is noweffectively closed.After their murder 27 gay and women’s rightsand community groups, including ActionAidpartners People Opposing Women Abuse(POWA) and the Treatment Action Campaign(TAC), joined together to form the 07-07-07campaign, named to mark the date the womenwere murdered. The campaign calls for justicefor Sizakele and Salome and all women beingtargeted for hate crimes.“They were outside a bar, acrowd of people were abusingthem and calling them tomboys,but Sizakele said ‘no we are nottomboys, we are lesbians’, thenthey left and we never sawthem again.”Tshidi, friend of Sizakele Sigasa,Soweto.Despite police inaction, the coalition is demandingthat the authorities re-examine the case andconduct a thorough and efficient investigationinto the murder, rape and torture of the women.It is also calling on police to work with membersof the Meadowlands community following claimsthat they still have not questioned witnesseswho could have valuable information about whathappened on the night of the murders.As Carrie Shelver from POWA points out, “Weknow that there was more than one perpetratorin that murder and yet, despite that, the policedid not pursue other leads.” 10In 2006 Zoliswa Nkonyana, a 19-year-old fromKhayelitsha, Cape Town, was stoned to deathby a mob outside her home. The trial of themen accused of her murder has now beenpostponed eight times, with the first witnessfinally taking the stand in December 2008.The trial for the brutal rape and murder of EudySimelane, a 31-year-old former national soccerplayer from a township in Johannesburg, beganlast month.