WITHDRAW QWELANE’S APPOINTMENT – GAY RIGHTS GROUPS

By Mongezi Mhlongo (BTM Senior Reporter)

SOUTH AFRICA – 19 January 2010: While lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) groups are up in arms against the alleged appointment of controversial columnist John Qwelane as South African ambassador to Uganda, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s remains ambiguous about his appointment.

“I can neither deny nor confirm the appointment”, was all Saul Kgomotso Molobi, Chief Director for Public Diplomacy in the international relations department, was prepared to say regarding Qwelane’s alleged corporate climb.

Meanwhile gay rights groups are calling for Qwelane’s appointment to be withdrawn stating that he [Qwelane] is a self confessed homophobe whose appointment will not only damage South Africa’s reputation internationally but also make matters worse for Uganda, said to be presently a hot-spot for homophobic and transphobic activity due to the pending Anti-homosexuality Bill.

Qwelane is currently facing the charges of hate speech in the South African Equality court, brought against him by the South African human rights commission, concerning a column he wrote in the Sunday Sun in 2008 “Call me names, but gay is not okay.”

In the column, Qwelane had boldly expressed sheer hatred of gay people saying they are “degradation of values and traditions.”

“Given that the South African constitution in the Bill of rights clearly states that people may not be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation, it seems unbelievable that a person who clearly holds views contrary to those stated in the constitution would be considered a suitable representative of the state in any role”, the Joint Working Group argues.

The South African Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD) is also “strongly” opposing Qwelane’s appointment stating “he is in no way suitable for such an appointment because of his record of making homophobic and sexist remarks in his journalism, which in our view, disqualifies him.”

SA GLAAD believes that Qwelane’s appointment by the president is “in extremely bad taste, and a slap in the face to LGBTI South Africans and Ugandans.”

The Allliance is calling on South African President Jacob Zuma and the South African government in general to reconsider, “denounce and condemn beyond any doubt the Ugandan genocide Bill currently being debated by the Ugandan parliament, to sign the UN declaration to decriminalize homosexuality, which it refused to sign in 2008, on the grounds of ‘having principles’ and to not appoint a homophobic person to the post of SA Ambassador to Uganda.”