Police banished two men from their community in
Swaziland because they were gay.
The men, one aged 18 and the other 21, moved from the
Lubombo region to Mvutshini to stay with the aunt of one of them.
Neighbours became suspicious about the relationship
between the two men and when confronted they readily agreed they were gay.
The aunt then reported them to the community police.
The Swazi News, an independent newspaper,
reported, ‘A meeting was convened where the boys were called to explain
their lifestyle. They confirmed that they were gay and that is when they were
ordered to immediately leave the area.’
The following day the two men left the area.
The aunt told the newspaper, ‘I was afraid of being
labelled all sorts of names in the area and be accused of harbouring gay people
in my house. My other problem was that local men would have ended up
quarrelling with their wives and resorted to being gay because of the boys
living under my roof.’
Sicelo Vilane, a member of the community police, told
the newspaper the community was increasingly getting worried about growing ‘bad
tendencies’ in the area and, ‘they, together with responsible residents, were
on a mission of getting rid of all bad elements’.
Homosexuality is illegal in Swaziland. In November
2011, Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs,
said Swaziland
would not give human rights to gay people, because they did not exist in
the kingdom.
Gamedze was responding to criticism of Swaziland by a
United Nations working group on human rights that said the kingdom should enact
equality laws for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people.
Gamedze also
told the United Nations that while consensual same-sex relations were
illegal in Swaziland, the Government did not pursue prosecutions.
Discrimination against gay and lesbian people in
Swaziland is rife and extends to workplaces, the churches and on to the
streets.
HOOP (House of Our Pride), a support group for Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender and Inter-sex (GLBTI) people,
reported to the United Nation in 2011, ‘It is a common scene for GLBTI to
be verbally insulted by by-passers in public places. [There is] defamatory name
calling and people yelling out to see a GLBTI person’s reproductive part are
some of the issues facing GLBTI in Swaziland.’
‘Faith houses have been known to discriminate against
GLBTI, advocating for the alienation of GLBTI in the family and society, while
maintaining that these GLBTI are possessed by demons.’ HOOP also said GLBTI people were often discriminated
against at work and there had been well known cases of this.
In one of the first reports of its kind detailing
sexual orientation discrimination in Swaziland, HOOP revealed, ‘GLBTI are
hugely discriminated against in the community, as they are not recognized at
community meetings and their points are often not minuted at these meetings nor
are they allowed to take part in community services.’
Police often ridiculed GLBTI people if they reported
they have been victims of violent crime, HOOP said.
See also
GAY
PREJUDICE RIFE IN SWAZILAND
NO
RIGHTS FOR GAYS: JUSTICE MINISTER
SWAZI
MINISTER LIES TO UN ON GAYS
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