Murders 'were hate crimes'
12/07/2007 08:50  - (SA)  

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Johannesburg - The murder of two women in Johannesburg this week was a hate crime against lesbians, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said on Wednesday.

The TAC has learnt from the Positive Women's Network that on Sunday in Meadowlands in Soweto, Sizakele Sigasa, an outreach co-ordinator at the Positive Women's Network and a lesbian and gay rights activist, and her friend Salome Masooa, were tortured and murdered.

Sigasa was found with her hands tied with her underpants and her ankles tied with her shoelaces, with three bullet holes in her head and three in her collarbone.

"This appears to have been a hate crime, committed by people who are intolerant of women and lesbians," the TAC said.

"The high level of violence against women in South Africa is caused by a complex set of intertwined factors. Some of these such as poverty, unemployment and cultural attitudes that promote machismo will take generations to resolve," the organisation said, while calling for government and civil society to take steps against gender violence in the meantime.

- SAPA

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