GAY TOKOLOSHE’ REPORT QUESTIONED
The Daily Sun newspaper has been accused of plumbing new depths by publishing a report in which a man has blamed a ‘gay tokoloshe’ for his poor sex life with his wife.
Last Friday’s edition of the newspaper featured an article titled Terror of the Gay Tokoloshe.
A tokoloshe is a mythical African dwarf-like creature or evil spirit that causes trouble for people and often appears at night.
In the article, 51-year-old Issac Malope from Mpumalanga claims that for the last 15 years he has been raped nightly in bed by the tokoloshe.
“Every night he comes between me and my wife and rapes me over and over. When he leaves, I no longer have energy for my wife and even if I try to get an erection, nothing happens,” Malope was quoted as saying.
He explained that he has spent over R200,000 on sangomas and healers in an effort to solve the problem, but to no avail.
“I am appealing to anyone who can help to save my marriage,” Malope said. His dutiful wife, Constance Mazibuko, added: “I know it’s not his fault and as his wife I have to support him.”
The article was accompanied by an offensive illustration of a short bearded creature sporting limp wrists, a mini-skirt, painted nails and high heels.
Xander Flemming, the Health Manager at OUT LGBT Well-being in Pretoria, said that the report was troubling.
“You have to respect African culture, but from a psychological perspective the story suggests that there is some pathology here,” he said.
Flemming noted that virility is hugely significant for most men and that Malope’s claims could be a way of explaining a sexual dysfunction of some kind. He questioned why the newspaper had not referred the man to a medical professional or asked for a medical perspective.
Flemming also warned of the stereotyping implicit in the report and the accompanying picture.
“Here we see homosexuality represented as an evil spirit and the cartoon draws on all kinds of stereotypes. With so many LGBT Africans under siege, this only serves to reinforce negative perceptions of gays and lesbians,” he said.
The Daily Sun is the biggest daily newspaper in South Africa, largely targeting working class people around the major urban centres. It has been credited with breaking through to this previously ignored growing audience with accessible but often outrageous news.
I’m compelled to laugh, but there are many who will believe this article. Social decay starts with farcical trivia like this, that many just laugh at – then, as if out of nowhere, articles like this start emerging from many corners. Then society changes negatively. Once upon a time, many of us thought Juju was just a worthless buffoon with his utterances – until he made us squirm in the heat of his influence. Something needs to be done with The Daily Sun. Such an article in a country (especially Mpumalanga) that believes in witchcraft could lead to the loss of life for gay people.
Implications or not this still fuckn hilarious! I am not minimising the potential disaster here but lets remember sum humans love reading rubbish whether it’s a heat magazine or the Daily Sun. We must Remember The Daily Sun is a business and the tokoloshe articles are basically the source of thier largest revenue. It is the most milked headline they. It seem the tokoloshe is a Jack of all trades… Last I heard the tokoloshe learned Afrikaans and ate sum kid’s homework. The gay move isn’t so surprising after u think about it what u should b askin now is what will it now? Maybe it’ll learn belly dancing or hump a cat… I’m sure they’ll think of somthin
Neanderthals
The Sun sensationalises everything… they are a tabloid, not credible journalists. I’ve given several interviews to them and they always twist to be as sensational as possible as the expense of the truth. The sad thing is that many people believe the BS they write, and in this case it’s not doing any favours for the LGBT community.