Community Interventions

16 Days of Activism: FEW's Vaal Intervention as at 25 Nov. – Dec. 10, 2004

LGBT issues in Vaal
As a LGBT community in South Africa, we face many challenges, of which one of the most pressing are the resources and the political will needed to form a more broad-based and inclusive community of people. The Forum for the Empowerment for Women (FEW) intervention in Vaal was an attempt to reach out to a community of lesbians who do not feel themselves to be part of a wider LGBT movement. Not only do the lesbian and gay people in Vaal have no direct relationship with the many LGBT organizations and service providers who speak on their behalf daily, but 90% of the people have did not know who the organizations that deal with their many issues were, or where they are located. Moreover, the majority have never attended events like Pride which, last year, celebrated its 15th year of existence.

The lack of resource and information flow towards LGBT communities who are far from the centre of where almost all organizations and service providers are located—mainly Braamfontein, Yeoville, Pretoria, Durban, and Cape Town—is a real problem, especially when we are dealing with people who are not only non-heterosexual, but also unemployed and poor. While many LGBT service providers and community workers are privileged enough to live and work in the suburbs, the distance is far for people who are not on a fixed income. Most of Vaal’s townships like Boipatong, Evaton, Sebokeng, Bophelong, Sharpeville, Ratanda (which is even further out), are about 60-70 kms away from Johannesburg central.

South Africa’s official unemployment figures currently stand at 28% while some regions report an unemployment rate closer to 40%. This of course also affects LGBTs, especially those who live in more remote communities. As such, poverty and homelessness, and the lack of belonging that comes with homelessness, are some of the most urgent issues affected lesbians, transsexual/transgender men and women, bi-sexual, and gays in Vaal. It costs about R50 return for a person to reach Gauteng—after multiple public transport changes since there is no direct route—to gain access to services such as counseling and legal advice, or simply to meet in LGBT-friendly spaces. For people who live on the edge of survival, who have families to support or look after, this is a luxury not readily affordable.

The community that we targeted in Vaal was not aware of any LGBT organizations or publications, nor did they have any information about the hate crimes and gay marriages campaigns that have been on-going for quite some time now. We cannot speak about LGBT liberation or an LGBT movement in South Africa when our people are not invited or included to share in even the basic knowledge! There are no LGBT organisations in Vaal, and certainly no satellite offices /branches of existing organisations such as FEW or Equality Project.

Our community intervention
Violence, and sexual violence in particular, has affected many women and children in our country. Even the South African Police Services estimates that between 1.5-1.8 million women are raped annually. This is why mainstream women’s organisation highlight the issue of violence against women during the 16 Days of Action campaign between November 25 and December 10. However, it must be a priority for any existing organisation to try and help those who are affected by this pandemic. There are forums that are introduced into our locations and townships every now and then, but none of them cater to the specific needs and realities faced by lesbian women. They are either ignored or excluded in most women’s groups, organizations, shelters, and rape crisis centres.

The purpose of the intervention was to share with, and inform the lesbian community issue of sexual offences and hate crimes against lesbians, and from the workshop it was clear that we still need to work hard to ensure that people are informed in every way. Just as in Alexandra township in the Northern side of Johannesburg in 2003, FEW has yet again reached out to the townships of Vaal. People came from about 5/6 sub-townships.

Interestingly, though somewhat sadly, Vaal, in the district of Vanderbijlpark, is one of the PWV (Pretoria/Witwatersrand/Vereeniging) areas where communities were most active during the 1970s and the 1980s. They fought for both for basic human rights, and against the apartheid system. It is a place where many of our lesbian and gay people come from. Little is said about our forefathers and foremothers of the LGBT movement, as researchers have not put their focus on that, but this is one of the significant places where people lost lives due to their belief in freedom and liberation.

FEW’s community intervention was supported by POWA and Equality Project, and it was funded by Foundation for Human Rights (FHR). Without FHR finding, it would have been impossible to have the event take place at all.

From the beginning of the 16 Days…

25 November 2004: A group of five lesbians joined the mainstream at the opening of 16 Days of Activism that took place in Sebokeng, Zone 12 at Phahlalatsane Community Hall. The event was organised by Sebokeng Police Station based in Zone 7. After traveling for hours, we missed the whole event, but were not the only ones to do so. The event was disorganised and as such most people in the area did not know about.

26 November 2004: There was a lesbian workshop that was held at Sharpeville Police Station. The topic for the day was on identity, relationships, health and sexuality. 37 participants were present. At the workshop it was clear that women were not familiar with related problems that others were facing in other townships. On the issue of ‘coming out’, willing participants shared their stories of the challenges that they faced. Other confessed that they were not yet ready to do that. Obviously, there is still much education, both within LGBT communities and within straight society, that is needed in order for LGBTs to come out safely, and when the time is right. The workshops were facilitated by FEW volunteers, who have been trained for this during life skills classes held at FEW on Fridays.

27 November 2004: Due to the problems encountered at the Sharpeville Police Station concerning the availability of space for the workshop, the day did not go smoothly. On this day, therefore, we met at Ouma Sibanda’s place (a lesbian sangoma queen), who resides in Evaton. She also has her practice there where she trains people to be sangomas (ukuthwasa). 33 participants gathered at that place. The topic for the day was on health issues and domestic violence. All possible information was shared with the people and brochures were distributed on lesbian safer-sex, and on which steps to take when faced with domestic violence. Advice for protection /security was also shared.

29 Nov.-3 Dec 2004: Those dates were allocated for self-defence training, but it did not take place due to unavailability of training spaces since the townships have few community halls. This was postponed for a later stage, as the network has already been formed.

4 December 2004: Lesbian community workshop #2 took place at Sehopotso High School in Zone 12, Sebokeng. The topic of the day was on sexual violence. FEW shared the session with Equality Project which explained the legal side of the issue such as information on Sexual Rights and the law. POWA played a role in sharing with the participants about psychological support for survivors. The irony of the matter is that for people living in Sebokeng, no one knew where the POWA office was situated in the area.

The FEW drama group entertained everyone with the performance on the plight of hate crimes. The play was on the treatment people gets in the hands of service providers when they are sexually violated. 40 participants attended that workshop including facilitators.

5 December 2005: It was the continuation from the previous day’s topic at the same venue. Different participants came, with less face from the previous day instead. Statistics of hate crimes was shared with the group. There are only a few people who related their stories in private as they were affected by the same problem in their townships. 25 participants attended this session, including two facilitators.

6-7 December 2004: These dates were also meant for self-defence training, but again this did not happen.

8 December 2004: This workshop took place at Ratanda Power Station which is 10 km away from Heidelberg. Topic for the day was on relationships and domestic violence. There was no structure to how this workshop should be done and everyone was shared stories and was expressive in a talkshow kind of setting. It was sad to hear how violent and sexist masculine identities structure some lesbian’s lives, as some people still perceived their girlfriends as wives who need to put on line by being beaten. One said, “She asks for it – she does not listen to me, which is why I beat her”. That on it own proved to show that education is needed domestic violence in our lesbian relationships. The worst thing in that area is that there are no special services for lesbian survivors of same-sex domestic violence. Lesbians rely on one individual to help them in her own capacity. There were 31 participants who attended.

9 – 10 December 2004: These dates were allocated for service provider training which took place at Isak Steyl Stadium – VIP lounge, premises of Vaal University of Technology. Counselors from Life Line – Vanderbijlpark (which sheltered a survivor of hate crime in 2003 Dec.) was present, as well as KATHA (Katorus Traditional Healers Association), South African Police Service – Sebokeng Branch, Independent Women and Youth organisations. The session was on how to deal with homophobia, hate crimes and other LGBTI issues. People present confessed they were very unaware of the issues and how to deal with them properly, and asked for the information that they needed to know. The community also voiced their expectations to the service providers. From the previous workshop of this intervention that took place in different places in Vaal, people elected their own community representatives. So, the meeting was specifically between community representatives from Sebokeng, Sharpeville, Evaton, Boipatong, Bophelong, and service providers from and nearby Vaal.
Both parties reached a level of agreement due to high level of facilitation. The service providers agreed to help the needy groups in different township, they also urged that the gay community should be vocal about their concerns as life was a two way street.
There were 38 participants on each day, which totalled to 76 in two days.

The intervention in Vaal was a success. All the sessions started at various times between 9-10 in the morning and went on until 5-6pm, depending on workload or topic discussed on that day. Food and transport for participants was organised by FEW.

Some reflections…
Without being scornful and sounding bitter, the truth is that we as representatives of organisations have not done nearly enough to address and deal with these problems.
If Vaal is far, we need to consider how far away some rural communities are and how much they have to say about the lack of information. I’m talking here about what we must see as the most basic of issues that need addressing: the process of ‘coming out’ and allowing people space to understand their sexual orientation or identity. We, as the affording LGBT groups in Gauteng, really have not spread our wings towards different directions outside of our city.

We spend a lot of money on advertising posters and Pride, but for whose benefits when our people are poor? When our LGBT youth are without resources and scholarships to further their education? There is not even a trust fund to help the children of our brothers and sisters who die monthly from the Aids epidemic. Our funders fund on the basis that we are serving the community, but how far have we done that? We have not even started tackling the issues of racism within that has affected our community for many years!
Southern African is then too far, if our empowerment cannot begin at home.

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