Contralesa chief: Un-African gay couples will not get rural land

Contralesa Eastern Cape Chairman Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana says that married same-sex couples will not be allocated residential land as their unions are ungodly.

Speaking at the funeral of AmaXhosa senior royal member and Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders Executive Member Chief Mthetho Ngubesizwe Sigcawu on Sunday, he proclaimed that same-sex marriage is against traditional beliefs.

“According to God’s law, man should marry a woman. Same-sex union is not only anti-God but also un-African,” Nonkonyana told mourners, reported Dispatch Live.

He went on to state: “In our rural areas we will never demarcate residential land for any man who is married to another man, not because we punish them, but because sites are according to our practices and are demarcated for a married man who has a wife.”

Nonkonyana is the Chief of the Amabhala Clan and serves as a committee member for the South African Football Association.

Traditional leaders, often through the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa ), have been among the most vocal critics of homosexuality and the acceptance of same-sex relationships in South Africa.

In 2006, Contralesa opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriage, claiming that “same-sex marriage is against nature, culture (all types of culture), religion and common sense, let alone decency”.

In 2012, Contralesa called for the removal of sexual orientation protection from the Constitution.

The Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, has also been accused of making anti-gay statements, including proclaiming that homosexuality is “un-Zulu”.