Shout Louder

In 2008 a journalist working for the Sunday Sun wrote an article which insulted gay people and women, encouraged conservatives to remove the rights of gay people from the SA Constitution, and also thumbed his nose at the Human Rights Commission by saying that he would never be made to apologize. More than two years later, it seems Jon Qwelane has been proved right.

Not only has it taken two years for this man to be charged for his offensive publications, but now that the Human Rights Commission has finally managed to get the process to the point where it can go to court, Mr Qwelane suddenly 'cannot be traced' to be served with notice that he should appear in court - effectively holding up the whole process.

Where, I wonder, is Mr Qwelane? Perhaps the tracers diligently searching for him have been asking in the wrong places. Have they asked the Government?

Government should know - after all, they have just appointed this homophobe to the position of SA Ambassador to Uganda - that country now infamous for pushing a new law which will see Uganda's GLBTI population murdered - sorry, "executed" for the horrible immoral "crime" of being born under one of those letters which Ugandans ignorantly bundle together under the global description - gay. But then, maybe they don't - after all, if you consider the state of our government, you have to wonder if the left hand knows whose back it is scratching, or the right for whose ass - well, you get the idea.

Our government clearly is unconcerned that they have appointed Mr Qwelane, a man so full of racist remarks, scorn for women's equality and anti-Semitic and homophobic hatred, as Ambassador for South Africa in Uganda. They seem equally unaware that this is like throwing a can of flammable liquid onto an already blazing inferno, as Uganda is probably the most vocally homophobic place on Earth at this time.

Uganda has been pushing an anti-human rights agenda for the past decade, by passing laws which turn people into criminals simply for the crime of existing - and of course, the new law - dubbed the Ugandan Genocide Bill (or the "Kill the Gays Bill" - is a complete surprise to them - or at least, will be if they ever admit to its existence. This worrying and puzzling pretense of ignorance is concerning indeed, considering that South Africa has been assisting Uganda in an official capacity for years in terms of infrastructure development, business investment and hey - we even supply electricity to them. And of course, complete 'nobodies' like us have been sending letters, emails, faxes, petitions, phone calls to our wonderful government to complain about their persistent silence on the matter.

In spite of all this, the South African government has yet to utter one single word on the issue, even to acknowledge receipt of any correspondence or dialog on the issue.

Perhaps the game they're playing - whatever game that is - requires delaying acknowledgement to a point where silence no longer serves their own indiscernible best interests? After all, how can you have plausible deniability if you admit to knowing something you later want to claim you didn't know about? 

 

I can imagine the SA President in a few years making an announcement on the state sanctioned genocide of GLBTI people in Uganda - which it clearly knew nothing about and was just as shocked and horrified as the rest of the world to learn about... but it's all over now, so it will be business as usual, next topic - thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen. 

 

Think it will fly? Or do I hear the sound of something crashing and burning on take-off?

Our government is placing nonentities like preserving neighborliness, policy and diplomacy with a murderous, rogue and failed state above the value of human life. It is brazenly ignoring the MANDATE given by the South African Constitution - the obligation to promote and adhere to the constitution itself, and all the protections given by it to all South Africans, including groups which are persecuted by other countries, or in other countries by their governments, and to address this in their dealings with other governments.

 

The ruling party, the ANC - once the bastion of secular thought and the driving force behind freedom and equality for ALL South Africans, is now deliberately ignoring the will and voices of its own people. It is placing convenience and even religious biases and prejudice and even relationships with religious extremist groups above its own increasingly shaky and doubtful claims of "morality". Most despicable of all, it is placing tacit complicity above speaking out and saving lives - especially the lives of people it doesn't approve of.

The answer is simple. If they cannot hear us, shout louder.

______________________________________________________________

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

________________________________________