GROUP PROTESTS CORRECTIVE RAPE

Activists in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, staged a protest on Friday against the ‘corrective rape’ of lesbian women.

The event was organised by the Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Committee (EPOC) which suffered a loss in its own ranks when 24-year-old member and activist Noxolo Nogwaza was brutally murdered earlier this year.

Nogwaza’s body was found on April 24, in KwaThema township, in a vicious attack that appeared to have been motivated by her sexual orientation. She was reportedly stoned and stabbed several times with broken glass, and possibly raped.

Friday’s march began at the KwaThema Methodist Church and concluded at the local police station where activists attempted to hand over a memorandum to the station commander, demanding that the police serve the needs of lesbian women in the area.

Behind the Mask reports that the commander refused to face the protestors and that the memorandum was eventually accepted by the head of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department.

The event concluded with a prayer service at the KwaThema Methodist Church which was attended by Gauteng Premier, Nomvula Mokonyane.

A party related to the event, which some LGBTI groups last week claimed was being inappropriately funded by the Gauteng provincial government and the Ekurhuleni municipality, was apparently cancelled.