Zimbabwe has criminalised gay relationships, striking fear into the hearts of many gays like these two walking side by side in the country’s capital, because they are being left out in strategies to combat HIV/AIDS. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo

By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE, Dec 18 2014 (IPS)

Despite a mandate to eradicate HIV/AIDS under the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Zimbabwe has done little or nothing to reduce the rate of infection among vulnerable gays and lesbians, say activists here.

The MDGs are eight goals agreed to by all U.N. member states and all leading international development institutions to be achieved by the target date of 2015. These goals range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education.

Gays and lesbians activists here say more needs to be done because population groups such as men who have sex with men and transgender people remain at the periphery of the country’s intervention strategies.

“In as far as combatting HIV/AIDS is concerned, there are no national programmes targeted for minority groups or interventions that can easily be accessible by the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community on prevention and care within the public healthcare system,”Samuel Matsikure, Programme Manager of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), told IPS.“Whether the Zimbabwean government likes it or not, it has to face the reality that gays and lesbians exist and should therefore cater for their HIV/AIDS needs in emerging with strategies to combat HIV/AIDS just like it does for all other citizens, for how do we end the scourge if we ignore another group of people who will certainly spread the disease” – civil society activist Trust Mhindo

“There are knowledge gaps of healthcare workers on the needs and best methods on prevention, treatment and care for the HIV-positive LGBTI individuals,” adds Matsikure.

GALZ is a voluntary association founded in 1990 to serve the needs and interests of LGBTI persons in Zimbabwe, pushing for social tolerance of sexual minorities.

But 24 years after GALZ was founded, Zimbabwe’s Sexual Offences Act still criminalises homosexuality. According to Section 4.78 of Zimbabwe’s new constitution, persons of the same sex are prohibited from consensual sex or marrying each other.

Civil society activists say the Zimbabwean government has to accept the reality that gays and lesbians exist.

“Whether the Zimbabwean government likes it or not, it has to face the reality that gays and lesbians exist and should therefore cater for their HIV/AIDS needs in emerging with strategies to combat HIV/AIDS just like it does for all other citizens, for how do we end the scourge if we ignore another group of people who will certainly spread the disease,” Trust Mhindo, a civil society activist, told IPS.

HIV/AIDS activists here rather want the legislation on gays and lesbians changed. “We need to fight for a change of laws so that gays and lesbians are given recognition, without which fighting HIV/AIDS among LGBTI will remain futile,” Benjamin Mazhindu, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Network for People Living with HIV (ZNPP+), told IPS.

Globally halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015 is part of the U.N. MDGs, but with members of the LGBTI sidelined in fighting the disease in Zimbabwe, the battle may be far from over.

“Most healthcare facilities in Zimbabwe are not friendly to LGBTI persons, hindering disclosures of ailments like anal STIs [sexually transmitted infections]while sexual and reproductive health information for the LGBTI community is non-existent, creating a vacuum with healthcare facilities for minorities,” GALZ director Chester Samba told IPS.

“If you today walk into any government healthcare centre, be sure not to find any information or literature on gays and lesbians in as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned,” he added.

And for many Zimbabwean gays like 23-year-old Hillary Tembo, living with HIV/AIDS amounts to a death sentence because he fears accessing medical help from government healthcare centres.

“I’m HIV-positive and ridden with STI-related sores in my anus and truly I’m afraid to show this to health workers, fearing victimisation owing to my sexuality,” Tembo told IPS.

But Zimbabwean Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told IPS: “When a person visits a healthcare centre, nothing is asked about one’s sexual orientation.”

According to Samba, although there are no reported cases of HIV-positive LGBTI people being denied antiretroviral treatment on account of their sexual orientation, “there is need for a national HIV/AIDS response to address the barriers preventing members of the LGBTI community from accessing services that address their HIV/AIDS health care needs, including access to information that is relevant to them.”

However, faced with a constitution forbidding gay relations, government here finds it an uphill task to consider a group of people that it constitutionally does not recognise in combatting HIV/AIDS.

“We can’t arm-twist our supreme law which does not condone homosexuality to fit in to the needs of a small group of people who are disobeying the law,” a top government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told IPS.

And for gays and lesbians in this Southern African nation, whether the U.N. MDGs matter or not, to them suffering may continue as long as they remain a forgotten lot in fighting HIV/AIDS.

“As homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, it is difficult for prevention programmes to reach men who have sex with men (MSM) and all MSMs living with HIV/AIDS are often unable to access HIV treatment, care and support,” Samba told IPS.

Asked how many HIV-positive LGBTI persons there were in Zimbabwe, the GALZ director said that he could not give figures because “there are no mechanisms at national level to capture data based on one’s sexual orientation.”

However, in its yet-to-be published 2014 research on the impact of HIV/AIDS on LGBTI persons, GALZ says that of the 393 MSMs tested for HIV/AIDS this year, 23.5 percent were found positive while of the 179 women having sex with women (WSWs) tested for HIV/AIDS, 32.6 percent were found positive in Zimbabwe.

According to the National Aids Council in Zimbabwe (NAC),1.24 million people in the country are living with HIV/AIDS, which is approximately 15 percent of the country’s over 13 million people. LGBTI persons are part of this percentage.

Statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency this year show that LGBTI persons in Zimbabwe contribute about four percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS.

With a membership of 6,000 gays and lesbians, GALZ says 15 percent of these are living with HIV/AIDS, with five of its members having succumbed to HIV/AIDS since January. The organisation claims that it normally loses 5 to 10 people each year. “Statistics we have so far are of GALZ-affiliated members, not representative of the national statistics,” said the GALZ director.

For many HIV-positive Zimbabwean gays like Tembo, as the world rushes towards the deadline for attainment of the U.N. MDGs, without clearly defined strategies to fight HIV/AIDS within the LGBTI community, the war against the scourge may be far from over.

“How can we triumph over HIV/AIDS when among the LGBTI community we are without strategies from government to combat the disease?” Tembo asked rhetorically.

(Edited by Lisa Vives/Phil Harris)

Pink waste bins donated by the Sexual Rights Centre, which supports gays and lesbians, sparked a furore in conservative Zimbabwe. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Feb 11 2014 (IPS)

Matthew Jacobs* has been married for two years but his wife doesn’t know that he is also in a relationship with someone else. If his secret were discovered, it could result in him ending up in jail. His crime? Being in a same-sex relationship.

Zimbabwe criminalises same-sex relations. Even though the new constitution guarantees rights such as equality and non-discrimination, it is silent on specific rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community. And it is risky, if not deadly, to be gay and lesbian in Zimbabwe – a country where such relations are beyond taboo."Sexual rights are a matter of life and death, the challenge is to access safe spaces where people can live their lives." -- Mojalifa Mokoele, SRC spokesperson

“What could I do? I had to get married because it was expected of me [even though] I had a relationship with another man. I have [to live] this double life to survive,” Jacobs tells IPS.

Jacobs is just one of many homosexuals who are forced to live a double life in this southern African nation as they try to avoid stigmatisation, discrimination and arrest. It is no secret that Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, is a fervent critic of homosexuality and has made a number of homophobic statements over the years. In July 2013, he criticised South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu for supporting LGBTI rights and said: “Never, never, never will we support homosexuality in Zimbabwe.”

Civil society activist and chief executive officer of the Habakkuk Trust, Dumisani Nkomo, tells IPS while every citizen is entitled to dignity, privacy and the enjoyment of all rights, in a conservative country like Zimbabwe, homosexuality is still hard for many to accept.

“I do not believe gays or lesbians should be discriminated against or should be persecuted because, like everyone else, they are human beings,” Nkomo says.

“In our conservative country, when pushing such an agenda one is bound to be ostracised. What anyone does in their bedroom is not any of our business, but once you bring something private into the public domain it becomes a problem,” Nkomo says.

It is a concern that motivated the establishment of the Sexual Rights Centre (SRC), a Bulawayo-based human rights organisation working with the LGBTI community, men who have sex with men (MSM) women who have sex with women (WSW), sex workers and the broader community to promote sexual rights.

SRC programmes officer Nombulelo Madonko tells IPS that the centre has documented cases of harassment of commercial sex workers, lesbians and gays by the police.

“When people talk about sex workers and gays, they forget that these are people, mothers, wives, sisters, brothers, fathers and men. Because of their orientation they have become faceless [and] they now have no rights,” says Madonko.

The SRC believes sexual rights, sex and sexuality should be part of the public discourse and not taboo because there is nothing shameful about consensual sex and sexual acts amongst adults.

According to the centre’s spokesperson, Mojalifa Mokoele, there is wide ignorance about sexual rights in Zimbabwe.

“The constitution in Zimbabwe is silent on sexual relations but criminalises gay/lesbian marriage. Not all gays and lesbians want to get married, but we do want our relationships to be acknowledged and recognised. All they want is to live their lives to the full, but that is too much to ask for in a society that is quick to judge and slow to accept,” Mokoele tells IPS in an interview at his offices.

“Sexual rights are a matter of life and death, the challenge is to access safe spaces where people can live their lives, but politicians have used the issue of gays … what they have said has become law and has become right,” says Mokoele.

Being lesbian or gay has an added burden when it comes to accessing other rights such as legal representation, education and medical care.

“How do I explain to a nurse about the painful tear in my backside without being asked how I got it in the first place?” Gideon Jones* tells IPS. He says that despite these challenges his family is aware of his status and comfortable with it. They are supportive and are encouraging him to pursue his ambition of being a poet.

Sian Maseko, SRC director, tells IPS: “Sexual rights are human rights and no one should be persecuted for who they love.”

Members of the the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) have represented the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), a local LGBTI rights organisation, in legal cases.

GALZ chairperson Martha Tholanah was arrested in 2012 and faced charges of running an “unregistered” organisation after the police raided the group’s offices and confiscated electronic equipment and various documents. In January, the Zimbabwe High Court ordered that the seized equipment be returned and that GALZ was not a private voluntary organisation and therefore not obliged to register in terms of the Private Voluntary Organisations Act.

“It is worrying that some authorities in Zimbabwe are [being increasingly] homophobic towards GALZ and people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI),” ZLHR spokesman, Kumbirayi Mafunda, tells IPS.

“Any harassment and persecution based on sexual orientation is a monumental tragedy and also a violation of international human rights law,” he says.

* Names changed to protect identity of sources.