By Joseph Chirume.<\/p>\n
Kwazakhele<\/p>\n
About 60 members of Sicebise Social Inclusion, a community based LGBTQ organization in Gqeberha, recently held their 4th annual pride featuring a netball tournament at Lillian Ngoyi Hall, Kwazakhele. This year’s topic was titled, ‘ Breaking Gender Boundaries.’<\/p>\n
Several members of the organization urged the South African Police Services(SAPS) to provide a victim friendly atmosphere at police stations when LGBT members go to lay charges of victimization by the public. They then submitted a petition to the police outlining their demands.<\/p>\n
Eastern Cape LGBT Sector leader, Notshayina Skepe revealed that there were some communities that are very hostile towards gays and lesbians. She said she was concerned that some traditional leaders in some of the districts were leading the hatred.<\/p>\n
Skepe told GroundUp, \u201cWe\u2019re experiencing a lot of segregation both from ordinary people and also from traditional leaders. In some of the districts we\u2019re not accepted at all, especially in OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo districts. These districts are very difficult due to traditional leaders who don\u2019t allow gays and lesbians in their communities. This makes it easy for ordinary residents in those districts to dislike LGBT people. There\u2019s a lot of stigma and discrimination and non-acceptance of our members there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso in urban districts like Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City, we experience a lot of hate crimes. We have registered several murder cases and violence on our members in those urban areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skepe said they have been partnering with the South African Human Rights Commission and the Commission for Gender Equality and other organizations to reach out to traditional leaders in those to soften their stance on gays and lesbians adding that progress was very slow.<\/p>\n
Skepe said they face another challenge of witnesses of GBV crimes who are intimidated or killed to silence them.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though SAPS open these cases, you will find out that there is no progress because witnesses are afraid to come forward as they become targets. So people are afraid to take a witness stand in courts,\u201d said Skepe.<\/p>\n
\u00a0She said she recently visited a family of a murdered LGBT member but the partner who witnessed the incident is afraid to come forward.<\/p>\n
Executive Director of Nelson Mandela Bay Pride, Martin Smith who attended the pride to offer solidarity said SAPS should create a comfortable environment at police stations for victims of Gender Based Violence when reporting their cases.<\/p>\n
Smith told GroundUp, \u201cWe felt this community needs our support and we\u2019re working together with all the broader organizations in the LGBT community in the metro.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want SAPS to improve their actions especially inside the police station when a victim of GBV comes to report because that\u2019s where the change starts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nelson Mandela University student and Motherwell resident Sihle Kula narrated how he was bullied at a secondary school in the northern\u00a0areas where he studied matric.<\/p>\n
Kula recounted his ordeal, \u201cSome male students would bully me. They would tease me and follow me to the toilet where they would try to corner me and investigate my gender. It became so frustrating that I was always fighting a lone battle. The bullying only changed when I was made a prefect. I also excelled in my studies in grade 10 and grade 11 that some of the bullies started to respect me as they wanted to be assisted with schoolwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founder of Sicebise Social Inclusion, Mbulelo Xinana read the petition to the audience before handing it over to Sergeant Pohleli Ntombana of Kwazakhele police station.<\/p>\n
The petition was titled, \u201cProtection and Justice for the LQBTQIA+ Community in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe, the undersigned, call upon the South African Police Services (SAPS) to take urgent and sustained action to protect the rights, safety, and dignity of LGBTQIA+ individuals across Nelson Mandela metro.” They demanded SAPS to,<\/p>\n
(1)\u00a0Appoint trained officers to handle LGBTQIA+ cases with sensitivity and urgency<\/p>\n
(2)\u00a0Investigate and prosecute hate crimes against LGBTQIA+ individuals\u00a0\u00a0swiftly and thoroughly<\/p>\n
(3)\u00a0Implement mandatory training on LGBTQIA+ rights, gender diversity, and respectful engagement.<\/p>\n
(4)\u00a0Ensure that LGBTQIA+ individuals can report crimes without fear of ridicule, discrimination, or retaliation.<\/p>\n
(5)\u00a0Collaborate with LGBTQIA+ organizations to build trust and improve policing strategies.<\/p>\n
(6)\u00a0Publicly report on progress, case outcomes, and disciplinary actions related to LGBTQIA+ complaints.<\/p>\n
\n
Sergeant Pohleli Ntombana accepted the petition on behalf of the police.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cWe do acknowledge there are challenges raised and as SAPS we\u2019re working to improve our relationship with the LGBTQIA+ community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Joseph Chirume. Kwazakhele About 60 members of Sicebise Social Inclusion, a community based LGBTQ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":804,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}