SOUTH AFRICA:Rampant homophobia is blamed for double killing, writes Joe Humphreysin Johannesburg.
Human rights groups have expressed outrage at the torture and murder of two lesbian women in an apparent homophobic hate crime.
Sizakele Sigasa, a lesbian rights activist in Soweto, was stripped of her underwear, bound and shot dead execution-style, with three bullet wounds to her head and three to her collarbone. The body of her friend Salome Masooa was found next to her with a single gunshot wound to her head.
The killings, which took place in Meadowlands, Soweto, last Sunday, have generated unprecedented anger in South Africa's gay and lesbian community.
Positive Women's Network, for which Ms Sigasa worked as an outreach co-ordinator, said it believed the murders were "a hate crime, committed by people who are intolerant of women and lesbians".
Hundreds of supporters are expected to attend the funerals of the pair this weekend in Meadowlands, an area previously known for its relative tolerance towards homosexuality.
Carrie Shelver of People Opposing Women Abuse said she believed the gay and lesbian community was experiencing a "backlash" from the introduction of recent progressive legislation, including the legalisation of gay marriage last November.
"There is significant homophobia in the community. Among gay and lesbian people, there is a lot of panic and fear. These are not the first two murders, or rapes, of women." Zoliswa Nkonyana, a 19-year-old lesbian, was murdered by a homophobic mob in the Khayelitsha township near Cape Town in March 2006.
Campaign groups say three other lesbians have been killed since April in townships in Gauteng, a province that includes Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Such victims suffered from "triple discrimination", by virtue of being female, black and homosexual, according to the Forum for the Empowerment of Women.
"If a lesbian woman is killed and raped you never know the motive - whether she was raped because she was a lesbian or whether she was raped because she was a woman, said Zanele Muholi, an activist with the group.
"The saddest thing is that this case happens just a month before Women's Day, and I don't know what message is that - because we all know the conditions we [ women] live under in South Africa." Ms Shelver, who was part of a 200-strong group that attended a memorial service for the Soweto women on Thursday, said politicians had an important role in providing leadership.
"It's very easy to promote human rights that don't involve lesbian and gay people, or people on the margins." Presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma drew the wrath of the gay community last year when he told a political rally in KwaZulu-Natal that he would have "knocked out" any ungqingili (gay person) who dared stand in front of him.
The African National Congress deputy president subsequently issued a profuse apology but "they were said nevertheless", Ms Shelver commented. She added: "We need to be frank about the legacy of apartheid and the disproportionate vulnerability of black lesbians. There are incidents where white lesbians have experienced discrimination but it's not on the same scale as black lesbians.
"In attempts to unify and speak in one voice, we often do not take into account the specific needs of particular communities, and that is a legitimate criticism of the lesbian and gay rights movement. So much attention has been focused on security legal victories - which are important. But where has been the impetus on combating hate crimes?"
Thursday's memorial service heard that Ms Sigasa was a daily attendant at rallies outside Johannesburg high court last year in support of a woman who had accused Mr Zuma of rape. Mr Zuma was acquitted of the charge.
Ms Sigasa had also campaigned on HIV/Aids, and was in the process of getting her driving licence to run a tour service for visitors to the 2010 World Cup, the vigil heard.