Zanu PF sucked into gay storm

By Margaret Chinowaita

Gays have threatened to publicly name and shame top Zanu PF officials and ministers who are allegedly involved in steamy affairs with their members in a move which could potentially plunge President Robert Mugabe’s relationship with his colleagues into a new low.

This followed weekend revelations that Mugabe could have been duped into signing into a law an Act which promotes rights of gays and lesbians whom the 87-year-old leader fiercely attacks as worse than dogs and pigs when given an opportunity.

Zanu PF officials who denounce homosexuality by day and engage in the activities by night, are said to be running scared following revelations by our sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, that some of them promoted and crafted the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa), which recognises some gay rights in 2003.

Mugabe reportedly signed the bill into law without realising that his aides had smuggled in recognition of gay rights.

Section 25 of Aippa reads: “Protection of information relating to personal privacy: (1) The head of a public body shall not disclose personal information to an applicant if the disclosure will result in the unreasonable invasion of a third party’s personal privacy.”

According to the same Act, “personal information” is defined and  includes a person’s age, sex and sexual orientation, marital and family status.

In 2000, some Zanu PF officials smuggled gay rights into the draft constitution and knowing that Mugabe hated homosexuality, they disguised it under a clause natural differences but the draft was rejected by the people.

Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (Galz)  president Chester Samba said they will name Zanu PF politicians who lambast them yet they engage in homosexual activities with his organisation’s members.

“We will expose them for who they really are if it turns out that somebody whom we know has gay relationships comes out with homophobic statements,” Samba.

 

“While we wouldn’t want to expose people because we do not have that policy, if a politician who is gay comes out with homophobic attacks we will see that as hypocrisy. If that politician is known to be gay and it is proven, only in situations like that we will be forced to expose them.”

See the full list of Zanu PF officials exposed by SW Radio Africa last week

Samba, however, said there are no politicians that have joined Galz as members but he confirmed that there were some who had gay sexual orientations and has relationships with their members. Galz has made submissions to Copac on what they want included in the constitution.

“We want right to privacy, right to equality, non-discrimination and to have sexual orientation included in the Bill of Rights as a basis of discrimination. We want our basic rights but we are not lobbying for same sex marriages to be included in the constitution.”

Samba said same sex marriages were not yet on the agenda because a number of issues were still outstanding. He said at the moment gays and lesbians do not have the right to health and education in the country. Recently, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai came under fire for saying homosexuality was a human right in an interview with BBC.

Zanu PF hawks and Mugabe’s bootlickers rushed to castigate him before they were exposed at the weekend as hypocrites who crafted and passed Aippa into law and as it turns out, the law recognises homosexuality. Homosexuality is reportedly rife in Zanu PF.

Former ceremonial President Reverend Canaan Banana allegedly sexually abused aides while a Mutare businessman and Zanu PF official, once appeared in court charged with sodomising a young man.

During the time when political turncoat Jonathan Moyo was Information and Publicity minister, ZBC chief executive officer Alum Mpofu resigned in shame after he was caught in a gay act at a popular rhumba club in Harare.

During the same time, there were reports that a powerful minister was caught in a compromising position with a Gweru based ZBC deejay in Gweru when Radio 3 was moved to the Midlands capital. And former Bulawayo-based dj Kelvin Ncube, who was employed at Montrose Studios, was caught in another shameful act at Bulawayo hotel. Daily News