Publications
- The LGBTIQA+ community has held a demonstration outside Parliament to call for justice for Andile "Lulu" Ntuthela, who was killed in the Eastern Cape.
- The group handed over a memorandum in which they called on Parliament to hold an urgent debate on hate crimes.
- They are calling for harsher punishment for those who commit hate crimes.
Angry members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTIQA+) community took to the streets of Cape Town to express their outrage at the murder of Andile "Lulu" Ntuthela in the Eastern Cape.
They held a protest outside Parliament on Friday where they called for justice for Ntuthela.
Justice for Lulu representative Kamva Gwana said: "We are calling for justice for Lulu and for other queers who have suffered at the hands of this country in the most brutal ways."
Gwana said they wanted the government to step away from their "complacency" and hold a debate on the queer community's challenges.
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"We want hate crimes to be dealt with. We believe the police service is queerphobic and we are done begging the public and the government for change," Gwana added.
Ntuthela's family reported him missing after he failed to return home by the Easter weekend.
A week later, police received a tip-off about a body that was buried at the home of Ntuthela's friend, who is now a suspect in the murder.
Tutu Zondo, who was also at the protest, said: "There is not one emotion that we are feeling, and I speak not only for myself, but for the collective that's here. We are scared and we are angry. We are grieving and are in mourning. Our history has been ignored for too long. We have been erased and we feel these emotions."
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The group handed over a memorandum.
In it, they called on Parliament to hold an urgent debate on hate crimes and to discuss the importance of protecting of the LGBTQIA+ community's rights. They are also calling for harsher punishment for those who commit hate crimes and want Parliament to facilitate a dialogue between traditional and religious leaders and other stakeholders to find long-term solutions for the protection of the LGBTQIA+ community.
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