lesbian couple callously murdered

By Zanele Muholi and Sabine Neidhardt (BTM Correspondents)

July 11, 2007: The gay community is mourning the death of a lesbian couple who were found dead at a dumpsite in Meadowlands Zone 1, Soweto, in the early hours of morning over the weekend.

Sizakele Sigasa (34) of Mofolo North and Salome Masooa (23) of Meadowlands, who were in a relationship according to close friends, were allegedly shot and their bodies dumped in an open dumpsite in Meadowlands where they were discovered by a jogger on Sunday morning.

The couple was attending a queer celebration in Orlando West on Saturday. They left the party after midnight to take home another friend, but failed to return to the party as expected.

Their families were shocked to get the tragic news on Sunday when the couple’s parents were asked to go and identify the bodies at Meadowlands police station. 

While friends who gathered at the family homes on Sunday believe that the motive for the murders must be “officially” established and  they strongly suspect that the killings were hate crimes driven by lesbophobia which is still rampant in South Africa.

“This does not look like it was a ‘random’ killing or hijacking, because their bodies were found not far from the Mazda car they were traveling in, and only a few small possessions, including cell phones were missing”, one friend said.

Sigasa’s mother, who was asked to identify the body of her daughter, confirmed that Masooa had a gunshot wound to the back of her head, and Sigasa had three bullet wounds in her neck. Though still fully clothed, the jean of one of the women was unbuttoned and a pair of panties was found tucked inside her pockets which led to police suspecting that the two were assaulted and raped before the killing.

Sigagasa’s mother also believes that her daughter put up a struggle as her dreadlocks were pulled out and she had bruises on her forehead.

Overcome by grief of losing her daughter whom she described as her ‘only hope’,  Sigasa’s mother said that her daughter had recently started her internship at Daimler Chrysler, and was involved in many community organisations including Soweto HIV/AIDS Counselors Association (SOHACA) and Positive Women Network.
The murders come just weeks after the South African Police Service (SAPS) released crime statistics that reveal that the country still has high levels of crime.

Gay people in the country have complained that these statistics are not specific about hate crimes, especially against women, lesbians, gays and trans-men and women. They also complain that there are no official statistics collected to track that lesbian women continue to face hate crimes despite the liberal constitution and the passing of the Civil Unions Act.

”We are scared for our lives [that] anything can happen to any one of us", said Busi Kheswa, Oral history preserver and story collector for Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa (GALA).

“As a community what we need to do now is to mobilise ourselves, get involved and advocate to end violence against all women. We must take it upon ourselves not to remain quiet in our grief in South Africa.” A gay activist who chose to remain anonymous said.

A joint memorial service will take place on Thursday 12 July at Ipelegeng Community Hall in Soweto at 13:00 and a funeral will be held at Bapedi Hall on Saturday 14 July at 9:00 am. Mourners will leave the hall for the cemetery at 12:00 pm.