Zimbabwe: Update to ZWE35764.E of 20 December 2000 on Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ); names of chairpersons and executive members in Harare and Bulawayo; information on the Bulawayo office; whether there has been an increase in threats by Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the War Veterans towards homosexuals and as a result whether GALZ is considering closing its offices; information on the arrest of a GALZ member in January 2002 (January 2001-April 2003)

The following information was provided by Keith Goddard, the Director of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) in correspondence with the Research Directorate:

GALZ opened a Bulawayo office in 1999 which was called GLOM. It was closed in March 2001 for financial reasons and because of mismanagement and has been replaced by the GLOM Affinity Group which does not receive funding for administration from GALZ.

Homosexuality (or more correctly homophobia) was placed squarely on the national agenda by Mugabe in 1995. However, this vocal homophobia has not been translated into any meaningful action because government has no policy on the LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual] issue other than rubber stamping the President's tirades. GALZ operates under the law of Zimbabwe and the premises have not been raided since 1996. In fact, GALZ is on friendly terms with the local police station who send officers down to the GALZ offices to do their photocopying. Nevertheless, the anti-gay stance of government has, unfortunately, given blackmailers carte blanche to threaten gay[s] and lesbian[s]. The police also tend to take the side of blackmailers when an incident is reported to them. On the other hand, none of the cases reported to GALZ over the past eight years have ever gone to trial.

In 1995, 1996, 1998 and 1999, homosexuality was frequently mentioned in a negative light in the state papers. But since 2000, Mugabe's attention has shifted towards attacking white farmers and the opposition and seizing land which has relieved the pressure on us. In general, the problems facing lesbian and gay people are the same as those facing most Zimbabweans - oppression, fear, starvation, torture, harassment, police brutality, violence from so-called war veterans and the Green Bombers, victimisation, massive unemployment, lack of access to affordable health care and rampant inflation.

The war veterans have never sent a delegation to GALZ. I don't think they would dare.

When on the rare occasion threats of invasion or closure are reported in the state media, GALZ removes sensitive files from its offices and stores them in safe keeping. None of these threats have materialised. When Mugabe said during his last election campaign that he would close all gay organisations, we just cut out the article, pasted it into our scrapbook and carried on with our business.

GALZ has never considered closing its offices. Our remaining open is an important political statement that we will not be bullied into submission.

According to my records no member of GALZ was arrested in 2002. The last arrest (of two GALZ members) was in 2001 (2 May 2003).

Although he did not want to provide the names of the GALZ executive members without their consent, Keith Goddard offered to disclose himself as Director of GALZ, a position he took when the organization created two middle management positions in 2002 (GALZ 2 May 2003). However, documentary sources found on the Internet, list Romeo Tshuma as GALZ's health officer (Behind the Mask Apr. 2001), Chesterfield Samba as GALZ's administrator in the Harare office (Kubatana 18 Dec. 2002), and Rogers Bande as GALZ's secretary (Global Ministries 29 July 2002).

The author of the attached article entitled "'What an Abomination, a Rottenness of Culture': Reflections Upon the Gay Rights Movement in Sub-Saharan Africa," who is also a professor of history and development studies at Queen's University and a member of GALZ, provided the following information regarding relations between members of GALZ and government authorities:

ZANU-PF et al have bigger concerns these days than a small (a few hundred) and basically quite discreet association which has good international connections. Things looked quite gloomy 1995-7, then again at the time of the 2000 constitutional talks, but the main focus of homophobic rhetoric now is not GALZ but the British [government] there are also reports of homosexual rape by the Green Bombers out in the countryside but these cases are not directed against gays and lesbians. Rather, they have been against regular villagers – a calculated use of sexual violence to maximize terror and humiliation.

[Have relations improved since 2000, to] the extent that the [government] basically ignores GALZ, yes. However, there has been no change in [the] general attitude toward gays and lesbians (or "pigs and dogs" as the president once described them). Also, [government] perceives (almost certainly correctly) that GALZ members, like other urban dwellers, tend to support the opposition. Police, who were improving in their sensitivity to issues like extortion in the late 90s, are probably afraid to act according to their conscience on account of the general climate of fear. With more people in desperate economic situations, the temptations to resort to extortion of gays is strong.

GALZ officers are at risk mostly as suspected [Movement for Democratic Change] MDC supporters, I would think. That is a big risk, as even senior members of the party have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered (2 May 2003).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Behind the Mask. April 2001. "Zimbabwe: GALZ Outs Former Member." [Accessed 30 Apr. 2003]

Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ). 2 May 2003. Correspondence from the Director.

Global Ministries. 28 July 2002. "Education/Advocacy Resources: Ukaama: Churches in Solidarity with Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe." [Accessed 30 Apr. 2003]

Kubatana. 18 December 2002. "Gays and Lesbians of Zimababwe (GALZ)." [Accessed 28 Apr. 2003]

Professor of History and Development Studies, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. 2 May 2003. Correspondence.

Attachment

Canadian Journal of Development Studies (CJDS). December 2001. Vol. 22., Special Issue, Gender and the Civil Commons. Marc Epprecht. "'What an Abomination, a Rottenness of Culture': Reflections Upon the Gay Rights Movement in Southern Africa."

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

NEXIS

Internet sites, including:

AllAfrica.com

Amnesty International (AI)

BBC Africa

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA)

Search engine:

Google