Issue date: 04 July 2013
The South African Men’s Sector is horrified by the horrific murder of 26 year-old Duduzile Zozo, from Thokoza on Gauteng’s East Rand.
The 26-year-old’s half naked body was discovered at the weekend and it is believed that she was raped. Zozo’s lifeless body was found with a toilet brush lodged in her vagina.
The South African National AIDS Council’s Men’s Sector believes that this brutal murder shows that there are men and boys who have declared war on lesbians and gay men in South Africa. However, this war cannot go unchallenged. We need to fight back like we did against apartheid. We need to work with all South African men, including political parties to stop this nonsense.
What has happened to Duduzile is a violation of human rights and an assault to human dignity. Society should not tolerate the abuse and murder of women and men just because they are of a different sexual orientation. There are many unreported cases of lesbians and gays being killed and this is an indication that South Africa is not a free society. No one has a right to kill another because their religious or traditional beliefs do not agree with what they are. In fact, no religion or tradition promotes the murder of another human being. This nonsense must come to an end.
We would like to extend a word of sympathy to Duduzile’s mother and family. On behalf of all law-abiding men in South Africa, we apologise for what has happened to your child and we will try to use all the resources we have to engage men and boys in our country so that we don’t become a banana republic where freedoms can only be enjoyed by a few.
The Chief Executive Officer of the South African National AIDS Council, Dr Fareed Abdullah, said “the killing of Zozo and many other lesbian women and gay men reverses the unique gains that we have made in our progressive Constitution. We are in danger of losing, in reality, what we have struggled so hard to achieve in law”.
Dr Abdullah appealed to South Africans and the law enforcement authorities to protect and promote the rights of all citizens as enshrined in the Constitution, which guarantees the dignity of all, including gays and lesbians.
“I call on every South African to work with the police and other law enforcement agents to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous and unjust act. The death of Duduzile Zozo should not be in vain”, he said.
Issued by: Mbulelo Dyasi (Rev) , co-ordinator of the South African National AIDS Council’s Men’s Sector and Brothers for Life Ambassador
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