FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS STATEMENT
DATE: 31 March 2023
SANAC Civil Society Forum Pledges SA Government To Take a Stand on Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill
South African National AIDS Council Civil Society forum (SANAC CSF) condemns Uganda’s just-passed Anti-Homosexuality Bill and is asking the South African Government to speak up against this gross violation of human rights.
The legislation, which Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is yet to sign into law, calls for lengthy prison sentences for people who identify as gay or are found to have promoted homosexuality. It establishes the death penalty for homosexual acts with minors, people with disabilities and several other groups.
Legislators amended significant portions of the original draft law, with all but one speaking against the bill. Supporters of the tough legislation say it is needed to punish a broader array of LGBTQ activities, which they say threaten traditional values in the conservative and religious East African nation.
“South Africa can’t keep quiet, our struggle for realisation of universal human rights speaks to a better Africa and a better world”, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, SANAC Civil Society Forum Chairperson says.”
She adds “the passing of this discriminatory Bill will result in the worst law in the world of its kind. If Uganda truly believes in development, rule of law, and protection of human rights, they will do the right thing. People are entitled to Human rights by virtue of being human. If this law gets signed by the President Museveni, it will erase lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Uganda and it will criminalise many others.”
“South Africa should rise with its foreign policy to ensure that it stands for building a better Africa for all. Lives are at stake, and we cannot just shut up in respect of sovereignty, we should rise as signatories of universal declaration of human rights to ensure equality, freedom, peace, and security for all is achieved.”
In support, Chairperson of CSF Law and Human Rights Sector Thabo Majuja says “The Ugandan Government has to revisit the decision as it is a serious violation of rights of the LGBTQI+ community. Africa will never be free until everyone is free like it was said during the apartheid days, when SA was not free. We call on the South African government to engage their counterparts in Uganda to reverse the decision of the Ugandan parliament.
On the other hand, Nonhlanhla Mkhize Chairperson of the CSF LGBTIQ+ Sector says, “ It shows deep seated prejudice, and dare I say self-hate for them to consume their thoughts with how other people identify, or expresses who they are, worse the sexual, practices they probably engage in, in private, she added”.
In an opinion submitted to a Ugandan parliamentary committee earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said the new law “would violate multiple fundamental rights guaranteed under Uganda’s Constitution and international human rights instruments to which Uganda is a party”.
“Criminalization of consensual same-sex conduct contributes to a climate in which violence and discrimination against LGBT people is widespread,” Human Rights Watch said.
In protest of this Bill, South African Human Rights activists will be picketing in Pretoria on Friday 31 March 2023, pledging South Africans, including Government and Private Sectors to speak up against its passing into law.
JOIN THE MARCH :
31 March 2023
Meeting Point: United Nations Information Centre
351 Francis Baard Street
Pretoria
#ENDS#
For all Media enquiries: Contact: Nthateng Mhlambiso – SANAC CSF Communications Officer
Email: nthateng@sanaccsf.org.za Tel: 012 784 1000 Mobile: +27 72 715 5425
Website: www.sanaccsf.org.za | Facebook | Twitter
Notes to Editors
The SANAC Civil Society Forum (CSF) is a formal advisory body established in 2012 by the South African National AIDS Council to facilitate the participation of Civil Society Organisations and networks, including those representing People Living with HIV, in the HIV and AIDS and TB within the National HIV response and for the implementation thereof National Strategic Plan (NSP) on HIV, TB and STI’s through sectors.
The SANAC CSF aims to promote an inclusive, competent, and responsive civil society that effectively serves the needs of the people of the South African communities, by linking and
diversifying civil society actors, expanding the sectors and communities where civil society contributes, improving civil society organisations’ operations, and enhancing connections between civil society organisations with their stakeholders and constituents.
The CSF Lekgotla is a policy conference which seeks to coordinate the voices and participation of civil society structures at key platforms, renew the mandate of SANAC CSF, and ensure prioritisation of local efforts in the National HIV and AIDS, TB and STI’s response in the country
The NSP is the strategic guide for the national response to HIV, TB and STIs in South Africa. This plan is developed for 5-year cycles with the current NSP coming to an end at the 31 March 2023, following a 1-year extension due to Covid19. SANAC is currently in the process of developing this new National Strategic Plan.