2013 May 3: A Slave of Rape

by Mpumi Rakabe

It eats away at the soul
It eats away at the inner most deepest part of us, it’s a demon
It’s a dark fire that fills us with mistrust, self hate, fear, anger, shame and a sense of loss
Loss of self, self esteem, pride, confidence, belief, loss of strength, courage.
It’s a disease that infects our spirits
it cuts us down dramatically at the core
it’s an abyssal we can fall into turning everything that was light into darkness

It’s a cage we don’t want to be enslaved in,
yet looking at the world it becomes a frightening place to line and walk in.

I hate hate hate rape
I detest every person who does this violent act
High such people are evil and have no respect for life not even their own,
because it takes intimacy to create life and to take this holy act and desecrate it
in such a despicable profane way is just abominable.
woman is raped every other second in this fucken country

Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck
Fucken Hell

I’m pissed off
She gets raped three times,
different people in different spaces
It took her a lot of years of shutting out the assaults and would happen again
until it happened the last time she reported it and spoke to a counsellor
it brought everything out that was the first time she dealt with it.

It’s very hard to deal with it cause it’s a wound you can’t put a band aid on
and every time she hear someone has been hurt
her wound bleeds all over again
It’s a dangerous thing for women to be alone emotionally
Its bitterly
Give me an empty canvass to pencil how I feel.

Previous by Mpumi

2013 Feb. 25: Another Soul Lost

Posted in Allies, Anger, Art Solidarity, As we are, Before You, Betrayal, Black Lesbians, Black Lesbians & Allies Against Hate Crimes, Community, Community Mobilizing, Creating awareness, Expression, Fear, Our lives in the picture, Queer poetics, Rape | Tagged | 4 Comments

2013 April 5: Video from private night vigil ceremony

… conducted by some Inkanyiso members.

Women’s Gaol, Constitution Hill. Braamfontein, Johannesburg


_______________

Video archive.

Captured with Canon 60D camera

+ EF lens 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM

Related links

2013 March 8: Public Event announcement

Posted in Baitiri Lumka Seleka; Charmain Carrol; Kopano Sibeko; Maureen Velile Majola; Lesego Tlhwale; Lerato Dumse; Nation Mokoena; Nqobile Zungu; Rene Mathibe; Zanele Muholi, Black Lesbians and HIV/ AIDS in South Africa, Creating awareness, Documentation; Filming; Photography; Community, Education, Exposure, Expression, Feminist Art, Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW), Hate Crimes, Health, HiV/AIDS in South Africa, Holy Spirit, Hope, Inkanyiso media, Interpretation, Johannesburg, Know Your SA Queer History, Lack of Resources, Lesbian Love Is Possible in South Africa, Life Stories, Love, Networking, Organizations, Our lives in the picture, Power of the Voice, Readings, Records and histories, Relationships, South Africa, Victims, Violence, Visual history, Visual history is a Right not a luxury, We Care, We Still Can with/out Resources, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures | Tagged | 2 Comments

2013 May 3: I resent you

by Andiswa Dlamini

Previous by Andy

2013 Feb. 10: Parts

Posted in Abantu, Activism, Africa, Allies, Andiswa Dlamini, Another Approach Is Possible, Archived memories, Art Activism in South Africa, Art Solidarity, Arts, Crea(c)tive senses, Creating awareness, Hate Crimes, Interpretation, Lesbian Love Is Possible in South Africa, Power of the Voice, Sound, Violence | Tagged | 10 Comments

2012 LGBT Recognition Awards Photo Album

photos by Lerato Maduna & Inkanyiso media

Related article

2012 December 27: on 2012 LGBTI Recognition awards

A personal reflection
by Maureen Velile Majola

It was a hot summer day in October 2012 when I received the news that I was nominated to compete for Best Poet of the year…

Posted in 2012 LGBT Recognition Awards, Community, Crea(c)tive senses, Creating awareness, Documentation; Filming; Photography; Community, Education, Exposure, Expression, Interpretation, Johannesburg, Know Your SA Queer History, Lerato Maduna, Networking, Organizations, Our lives in the picture, South Africa, South African Black Female Photographers, South African Curators, Soweto Theatre, Uthingo - The Rainbow, Visual history, Visual history is a Right not a luxury, Women who have sex with Women, Zanele Muholi | 5 Comments

2013 April 3: Reflecting on InterSexions

by Thulielove Gifted Hands Sodumo

I was watching the episode of interseXions with my family last night, they were all fuming about the abuse we lesbians suffer under the hands of the community, I shared the same sentiments….but..

I kept having this edge to say..”its not always like this”. And it really isn’t.
I feel like our sexuality is dangled like a steak in a hungry lions den and we all know how dangerous that is.
Yes we suffer and all but like a coin the story has two sides and the other is pleasent.

Why does a black lesbian woman have to be always covered in blood and suffering?
Why can’t she be happy and laugh till it hurts.
Why can’t we see a couple all lovey dovey.

This nonsense of victimization has to end. I can’t help feel that the community is enjoying this wounded lesbian, infact some Christians feels like it is what we deserve they will qoute the bible and talk all kinds of hogwash. They want this for a lesbian woman to suffer, they why is the media feeding this beast? It is sensationalism at its best. As long as the ratings are up crew who will deal with the consequences, screw those that go through this day in and out and screw everyone that is affected by this.

InterSexions may have tried but it has instilled the stereotypes we black lesbian women are trying to debunk.
Why promote violence?
I am sick and tired of watching exaggerated bullshit.

Ok so where is the lesbian women?
Why are our stories told by other people and not use?
Where are the lesbian writers?
Lesbian crew, cast everything it takes to make a show work and be seen.
How long must we be stepped onto and aside for shows like these to happen?
Isn’t it time for us to tell our stories?
For the longest time the media has cast us aside, when we want justice we aren’t good enough but when they want to sell their shows we are good enough.

Where can a lesbian get funding for such?
Our lives and stories have been stolen and all we do is complain and complain some more, we are all talk and no action…
We are victimized ourselves as well. Aren’t we tired of being used?

InterSexions woke up an animal to uThemba in Zone 14 from now on the bigoted homophobic imbecile will target lesbian and beat them up, rape them and we all know the reality is that, so many perpetrators got away with this, the police aren’t that eager to help, they will never go dOor to door investigating instead under their hands we suffer second hand rape and victimization, they will ridicule and laugh and even say “hayi wena sisi you were asking for that”…whay?
Why wasn’t that shown, if you going to talk about the lesbian story, do your research tell it as it is, don’t sugarcoat things, don’t lie and make it sweet.

I would die to see lesbians on TV kissing, cuddling and making love, being human.
I feel like they don’t wanna show that side because it humanises us, it shows we are human, we hurt, we love, we get turned on, we are a force to be reckoned with. No one can be more human than the other and it shows exacly that! They fear that, because they would rather deal with us bloody and broken or have that picture in their heads, poor abused victims, instead of us with power, tanacity and virtue, instead of me touching my girlfriend, instead of us laying in bed naked together, instead of me and her on the alter getting married, instead of us having a family and being “normal” humans. The community cannot handle that kind of truth because it doesn’t sit well with their ideals, their normalization is disturbed, their comfort zones would be destroyed and their righteous ways.

I am begging lesbians especially african lesbians to gather together and work on something, something that the South African general is ready for but it being ignorant towards it, I want scenes of me and my baby naked just like they show other coupled do so, I want her to kiss me blue and all that be on screen.
I want these nests the community have built for their comfort to be demolished, I want kids to know there is mummy and mummy in other households, I want the system and order that people have created just to hide the truth be revealed and I want a lesbian woman be the one telling thse stories.

Previous by Thulielove

2013 April 4: Gender blind

Posted in Readings, Relationships, South Africa, Violence, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures | Tagged , | 4 Comments

2013 April 30: this summer

received via email on Jun 26, 2011 at 5:28 PM

Please click on the sound button above to listen to the whole poem

__________________________________

this summer

i want to fuck hard,
i want the fridge in the kitchen shaking,
i want my four poster to jump and shake in tap dance as i fist,
anal lick and titty flick.

i want to fuck hard this summer,
the heat melting skin on skin,
mixing body oils and sweat and cum and tears streaming from cumming
i want to fuck hard.

I want a woman who’s going to pull up to my bedroom door,
i want her fat,
i want her thin,
i want her with a clit the size of a jalapeno pepper,
long, taut and flexible,
wet and packing a heat that will set my taste-buds tingling,
my mouth salivating.
i want to fuck hard,
i want to get lost in the hood of a clit i met this morning
and will spend the rest of the afternoon praying to,
i want to spend hours kissing the fold of her ass,
the crease in her armpit and the back of her legs,
i want to fuck hard.

i want to drown in litres of cum, of wet…
i want to sms ‘i miss your wet’ and change sheets in preparation for more
i want to fuck hard.

i want a woman tall,
i want a woman short.
i want her to lift me,
i want to lift her.
i want heavy lifting from the ground to my bed,
from my bed to the bathroom sink.
i want to fuck till it breaks and have to call Paul to come fix it quick.
i want a woman short, to lift her from the butt-
her pussy in my face and eat.
i want to fuck hard, i want to fuck long this summer.
i want to fuck till my housemate leaves the house at three am
to look for ass his damn self.

i want to fuck hard,
i want to use the black gloves i got as imports until they all done,
i want to shop for lube until the shop assistant laughs when
i come in through the door,
handing it over without being asked,
cashing me in and saying goodbye.

i want to be in pussy till my mouth knows that as the flavor for dinner and breakfast.
i want to bruise my mouth with bush.
i want to swim inside a tall woman,
a short woman,
a soft woman,
a hard woman,
a thin woman,
a fat woman,
a jelly woman,
a stone woman,
a fist me first and i’ll fist you back woman,
a no conversation before i jump your bones woman,
a climb in the bed with one thought woman,
i want to fuck hard this summer
cos that’s what all seasons are there for but
i happen to love fucking hard and long in this crazy

Pam featuring Faces & Phases (2010) by Zanele Muholi

Pam featuring in Faces & Phases (2010)
by Zanele Muholi


About Pam Dlungwana

‘She is a researcher, translator, co-ordinator, writer, poet.’

Posted in Activism, Africa, Allies, Another Approach Is Possible, Archived memories, Art Activism in South Africa, Art Solidarity, As we are, Before You, Connections, Crea(c)tive senses, Performance, Seductive voice, Sound, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures | Tagged | 27 Comments

2013 April 3: Time keeps moving

by Siya Mcuta

I keep having these flashes

Flashes of her smile when I entered her ward

I walked over to her

Still I was not sure if it was her

As her body was so small and frail in a bed unable

To move

She still smiled so beautifully it broke my heart

I smiled back as I gave a warm weak hug

I was scared to hug lest I break her fragile body

She held me in her arms, she wanted to cry but I stopped her

As I had no idea what I would do if she did cry

We spoke for a while until an hour passed

I didn’t want to go; the security had to chase me out

I left promising to go back the next day

But life got in the way

When I went back to visit bearing gifts

I remember her words like she keeps saying them

She said “wena you promised but you didn’t come

But I know ku busy ndibulela nje uba ulapha kuyadika uhlala apha wedwa”

From that moment I knew
I had to be there each moment I got time

Due to work and being busy we forget the most important things in life

I had forgotten that life was not standing still waiting for me

I had forgotten that I made a promise to myself to treasure family and friends

I could have gone to visit her more but I kept putting it off

With the hope that I will go tomorrow and

tomorrow becomes tomorrow

She died a lonely soul, friends and some family members had forgotten

About her, she hoped and waited for her friends to visit but we were too busy

To even think about her

Now she’s gone leaving us with regrets, tears, and lonely hearts

With the knowledge that she is not coming back

With the knowledge that we will never see that smile again

She will never send messages and ask to visit her again

Or tell you ‘wena chomy wandilahla khanguze nozondibona kodwa ndiyagula’

Imkile intombi kaMahlungulu kwaye soze iphinde ibuye

Isishiya nezozazela nomvandedwa ezintliziyweni

Sishiyeka sisithi akwabe kube sekwabekile

Ingathi kuyadlalwa abantu bamane besithi hayi mani uswelekile

Imkile intombendala into ishiyeke nathi

Eshiya isifundo esithi ubom bubalulekile kwaye ixesha yinto yokuhlonitshwa

Intliziyo zethu ziyakukhulula ke nzwakazi

Imiphefumlo ixhelekile kodwa ke akunani ulusabele ubizo

Hamba kakhle ke nzwakazi, mbelukazi

Nalapho uya khona uzusikhonzele

This Poem is dedicated to Nomawabo Wawa Mahlungulu
May her soul rest in Peace we will always miss her.
She was one of the people that formed Free Gender hopefully her death is not for nothing.

© 03/04/2013


Related articles

2013 Feb. 25: Isithembiso

and

2013 April 10: Another black lesbian activist has fallen

 

Posted in Allies, Another Approach Is Possible, Archived memories, Art Activism in South Africa, Articles, ARV's, Before You, Black Lesbians, Black Lesbians & Allies Against Hate Crimes, Black Lesbians and HIV/ AIDS in South Africa, Christie van Zyl, Community, Creating awareness, Death, Expression, Friendships, HiV/AIDS in South Africa, Hurt, Inner feelings, Lesbian Love Is Possible in South Africa, Life Stories, Networking, Nomawabo 'Wawa' Mahlungulu, Our lives in the picture, Records and histories, South Africa, Visual history | Tagged , | 2 Comments

2013 April 24: Abantu by Nqobile Zungu

2013 April 24:  Abantu by Nqobile Zungu

inkanyiso crew_9956

maureen & activist_9893


ibiphile_9992

crew@work_9825

activist_9855

activists & banner_9869

placcard_9789

isixulu_9969

mau & activist_9891

izicathulo1_9996
… at Noxolo Nogwaza’s commemoration in Tsakane, Ekurhuleni. Johannesburg.

Related articles

2013 April 24: Noxolo Nogwaza’s fading memory

Posted in Abantu, Connections, Contributors, Creating awareness, EPOC on Inkanyiso, Exposure, Expression, Faith, Family, Inkanyiso media, Johannesburg, Organizations, Our lives in the picture, Townships, Victims, Violence, Visual history, Visual history is a Right not a luxury, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures | 3 Comments

2013 March 17: Candlelight ceremony video

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xypzjc_hommage-aux-lesbiennes-noires-sud-africaines_news#.UX487GB296V

… Paris, France.

Inkanyiso would like to thank Julie Garcia, Feminist WebTV for this video.

Related links

Paris is burning with candles

Posted in Abantu, Activism, Africa, Allies, Another Approach Is Possible, Archived memories, Art Activism in South Africa, Connections, Contributors, Feminist Art, Gender naming, Give credits where it is due, Hope, Inkanyiso media, Institution, Lesbian Love Is Possible in South Africa, Violence, Visual history, Visual history is a Right not a luxury, Zanele Muholi | Tagged | 2 Comments

2013 April 28: Bleak freedom for black lesbians in South Africa

by Lesego Tlhwale

While many South Africans gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa to commemorate nineteen years of freedom, the LGBTI community in Ekurhuleni gathered in Daveyton to bury Patricia ‘Pat’ Mashigo whose lifeless body was found near a local primary school on the 21 April 2013.

Mashigo was allegedly murdered in the early hours of the 21th April 2013. Her naked body was found laid next to a portion of bricks with only a bra covering her breast; she had several bruises on her thighs and severe neck wound. Mashigo was a black lesbian mother of two teenagers who is believed to have been murdered because of her sexuality.

Mashigo’s murder is not the first for the Ekurhuleni community; she is the fifth lesbian to be brutally murdered in Ekurhuleni only since 2008. Three of those women were killed in the month of April, which is dubbed freedom month in South Africa.

Eudy Simelane, an openly lesbian woman and former Banyana Banyana player was murdered on the
27 April 2008 in KwaThema.

Girliy Nkosi a visible lesbian also from KwaThema died of internal bleeding after being attacked by unknown men, she died on the 02 June 2009.

20 year old Nokuthula Radebe, was found dead in an abandon building in Thokoza, she was murdered on the 28 March 2011.

A month later on the 24 April 2011 Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24 year old Lesbian mother of two was found brutally murdered in KwaThema.

Nogwaza’s case like Simelane’s attracted media attention and their stories were reported on both locally and internationally.

LGBTI groups in South Africa have long pleaded with the South African government to speak out publicly about the plaque of black lesbians in this country. However, the cry for help seem to fall on deaf ears as no action has been taken to date to curb the killing of black lesbians.

South Africa is faced with a plight of sexual violence toward women and children, and it is said that, “women are more likely to get raped than learn how to read”, and “one in three South African’s men have admitted to raping a woman in their lifetime”.

With such facts, one would wonder if it’s really necessary for South Africans to celebrate freedom day when marginalized groups are constantly tormented. Since 2008 the month of April have claimed innocent lives of black lesbians and yet we are supposed to celebrate, what’s there to celebrate?

In 1994 President Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first black South African president and that for many black South Africans meant freedoms from the apartheid era. Two years later in 1996 unfair discrimination against one’s sexual orientation was included into the constitution which meant LGBTI individuals can live their lives without fear of oppression. However, that is not the case 17 years later. Black lesbians are being gang raped and murders on basis of their sexual orientation, so tell me where is the so called freedom?

2013.04.27 Faces & Phases opening @ Widmer + Theodoridis Contemporary gallery Weggengasse 3, CH 8001 Zurich.

2013.04.27 Faces & Phases opening @ Widmer + Theodoridis Contemporary gallery
Weggengasse 3, CH 8001 Zurich.
The exhibition is on till 2013.05.11
Photos by Jessica Baldinger

Special thanks to the gallery owners  L-R: Verna, Jordan and my hosts Doris, Nathalie & Roland from Pink Apple team.

Special thanks to the gallery owners
L-R: Verna, Jordan and my hosts Doris, Nathalie & Roland from Pink Apple team.

Pat’s funeral coincided with Zanele Muholi’s Faces & Phases exhibition opened yesterday on the 27th April 2013, as part of the annual Pink Apple Film Festival in Zurich, Switzerland.

To mourn the death of Patricia Mashigo (36) and many LGBTI activists and victims of hate crimes in African and beyond. Inkanyiso together with activists’ abroad, the LGBTI-Groups today on (28 April 2013) will host a candlelight memorial to remember all the fallen black lesbians who died in the hands of homophobes in and around South African townships.
Today we remember the dismembered Eudy Simelane

Muholi the founder of Inkanyiso uses all the international spaces and events she’s invited to, to educate the international LGBTI community of what’s happening in South Africa in relation to hate crimes and how they affect black lesbians especially.

This international solidarity initiative was previously held in Paris to honour the lives of Buhle Msibi & Busi Sigasa who were lesbian activists, poets, that both died at age 25 due to HIV related illnesses.

Also, not forgetting all those LGBTI individuals who are surviving and succumbed to HIV illnesses due to curative rapes after hate crime incidents.

May the beautiful souls of Eudy, Girly, Nokuthula, Noxolo and Patricia rest in peace.

Previous articles by Lesego Tlhwale

2013 March 24: Recognition of LGBTI Activist should be a culture

and

2013 March 16: Dangerous love

and

2013 Feb. 12: A dildo is not a man; it’s a fantastic toy…

and

2013 Mar.1: Definitely NOT “Gaysbian”

Posted in Allies, Archived memories, Art Activism in South Africa, Art Solidarity, Articles, Patricia Mashigo (1977 - 2013), ReClaim Your Activism, South Africa, South Africa's Freedom Day, Townships, Violence, Visual history, Visual history is a Right not a luxury, Women who have sex with Women, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures | Tagged , | 20 Comments