A South African lesbian rights group were yesterday invited to parliament for a discussion on action against ‘corrective’ rape.
The group, Luleki Sizwe, were asked to take part in the discussion, scheduled to take place today, by South African Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe.
“Corrective” rape, a criminal act intended to “cure” lesbians has been on the increase in the whole of Africa.
An international petition against corrective rape was launched by Luleki Sizwe last year, and in 100 days received more than 170,000 signatures from 163 countries.
The group hope that today’s discussion will push the Ministry of Justice to implement a national action plan to stop violence against LGBT people.
Luleki Sizwe founder Ndumie Funda said, “We have shown that we can mobilise tens of thousands of people in South Africa and around the world, and the ministry now knows that they can no longer ignore our long fight against corrective rape”.
Ben Rattray, CEO of Change.org who are backing the campaign along with around a dozen other women’s rights organisations, said that today’s discussion in South Africa’s Parliament was only the start of the campaign to end gender-based violence.
