Gauteng MEC committed to safety of LGBTQIA+ community

Mazibuko said the safety of all citizens is important regardless of their gender, sex, or sexual orientation.

Gauteng Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko says her department is committed to the safety of all members of the LGBTQIA+ community living in the province.

She was speaking during a dialogue on the safety of intersex people.

According to the United Nations Free and Equal campaign, intersex people “are born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural bodily variations”.

Mazibuko said the safety of all citizens is important regardless of their gender, sex, or sexual orientation.

“In Gauteng, we have a community safety plan that guarantees that each and every citizen in Gauteng must be safe and protected. So it becomes our responsibility as the department that each and every one [of the LGBTQIA+ community] is protected. We blow the whistle on any person who violates the rights of others,” she said.

The MEC also committed to the establishment of “desks” within community policing forums specifically focussed on the LGBTQIA+ community.

“Through the CPFs we have agreed that we need to establish desks. We already have the youth desk, we already have the elderly desk so it means we must have an LGBTQIA+ desk so that [the LGBTQIA+ community] is also able to mobilise and work very closely with the police,” Mazibuko said.

Executive director of LGBTQIA+ organisation Access Chapter 2, Steve Letsike, told the dialogue that although much had been done in government policies to guarantee the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, implementation and execution had lagged behind.

“We have a legal framework that sought to protect everybody, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and so forth. The South African Police Service developed a standard operating procedure about two years ago. This SOP…has to be reviewed even though it is a good attempt…because if an intersex person gets arrested or admitted or want to be assisted [at a police station] what are the standard procedures in order to make sure that those services are adequate,” she said.

Letsike also bemoaned the service rendered to intersex people and members of the LGBTQIA+ community at government service points – specifically the police service.

“If you look at the issue of violence against LGBTI people in South Africa, just in the last 20 weeks or so, we have lost about 18 LGBTI people. Even with the very same gender-based violence and femicide that we speak about as a country, one would also realise that much of the violence against Intersex people go unrecognised. One of the studies that we made in 2016…revealed that 80% of LGBTI people do not report hate crimes or violations against them. So one would realise how much intersex people are not reporting these violations first because of fear of secondary victimisation and second because of being outed and not being taken seriously,” she said.

MEC Mazibuko acknowledged that more needs to be done to enlighten the police service about how to treat those in the LGBTQIA+ community.

“I believe that we need to educate society. Not only should we have gay pride…but we should have outreach programmes. These should include parents because I think…parents must be educated and empowered to say a child that you give birth to is a gift from God and you must accept [them]. Education of the police is also needed because if we don’t educate our policemen and women, we will have a long road ahead. The education that they get at the colleges [must] start orientating them to the nature of the communities that they will also come upon,” Mazibuko said. 

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)