12 April 2021: Kriben Kribashnee poses for a photograph near her home in Welbedacht East in Chatsworth, south of Durban. Kribashnee, a professional dancer, is training to become a Hindu priest. (Photograph by Rogan Ward)
Until recently, Simphiwe Mkhize, 18, was dreaming of a career as a social worker. But that dream has now been shattered after he was forced to quit grade 9 at his school in Tongaat, about 40km north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. Mkhize says he often found himself in fights with fellow pupils who were insulting him and calling him names because he is gay.
“I couldn’t take it anymore. They often picked on me. Some of the insults I let go, but others I returned and this led to fights,” he said. The abuse from his community in Tongaat has been so bad that Mkhize has been forced to flee and find refuge in a shack settlement near Chatsworth, where he now lives with his mother.
Angry LGBTQI+ community demands justice following brutal murder
By Nathan Craig
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Durban - As Human Rights Month ended, Sphamandla Khozaâs family learnt that he was killed in an alleged hate crime which sparked outrage, calls for justice and marches.
Last week, the 34-year-oldâs body was discovered in a ditch near his home in Ntuzuma. Khozaâs throat was slit and he was stabbed multiple times.
His death was suspected to be a homophobic hate crime by his family and the LGBTQI+ community. Khozaâs cousin Ndumiso Ngidi said the killing was allegedly perpetrated by men who knew, grew up with and lived in the same neighbourhood as Khoza.
Man who stabbed LGBTQI+ activist Lindokuhle Cele sentenced to 25 years in jail
By Nathan Craig
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Durban - The man accused of stabbing an LGBTQI+ activist 21 times and leaving him for dead with the blade lodged in his eye in an apparent hate crime was found guilty and sentenced this week. Mvuyisi Noguda, 32, was accused of the murder of 23-year-old Lindokuhle Cele in February last year in what has been described by the community as a hate crime.
Noguda has been on trial in the Durban High Court since last year but on Monday Acting Judge Narini Hiralall found him guilty of murder.