Elisabeth Real

Reportage, 2017

When You Come Back, I Might Be Dead

Selektionierte "Reportage" 2017

Nokuthula Ncube with her daughter Nobuhle in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2014 Nokuthula was raped when she was seventeen years old. She describes the night as follows. „When we arrived at the place underneath the trees, he told me to turn. I faced him, like this: I saw that he was taller than me. I tried to recognize him, and asked him again, “Who are you, and what do you want?” He replied, “Why are you acting like a boy? Why are you dating girls? Do you think there aren’t enough boys you can date? I want to prove that you’re a woman, not a man.” I said, “I know I’m not a man! I’m a woman, just having feelings for women.” (...) I said, “It’s just me, Nokuthula….” I was crying and I was so scared. So scared. You know, when you’re scared, you feel so weak? He tripped me and I fell down. I felt some pain in my back. Then he said…. The first thing he said to me when I was lying on the ground was “Take off your trousers.” I said, “No, I can’t take them off.” He put the gun like this (Nokuthula points to her forehead), and I said, “OK, I will take off my trousers.” I undid my belt and my zipper and I thought, something’s gonna happen. A bad thing is going to happen and I don’t know what it is. I begged him, “Please, please!” I said so many pleases to him. “Please don’t do this.” And, “Why are you doing this?” He said, “You know why. I just want to show you how nice it is, having sex with a man. You’re not a man, you’re a woman, and I just want to prove that you’re a woman!” “But I know I’m a woman!” Then I stopped answering him. I was so scared. (...) After that I went to bed, but I didn’t even sleep. When I closed my eyes, I could see him on top of me. I got up and went to sit on the toilet and just cried all night.“

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Duduzile’s mother Thuziwe, pictured with her remaining family, in Tokoza township, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2014. She says: „As the trial went on, I didn’t mind what happened. I only just wanted it to come to an end, in a good manner. I wanted the case to go through trial and not just disappear. (...) I don’t know what to do with counseling. I don’t know where to go, which time, which day? I was hurt when Duduzile died. But now, the wound is healed. It’s been three years! I can’t keep something for three years. I accept the fact that everyone is leaving, that there’s no one here who’s not going to die—it’s just like that.“

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Duduzile Zozo was raped and killed in Serema street, just a few meters from her house. Tokoza township, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2014

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Matshidiso Mofokeng with her girlfriend Amogelang Sekeete in Daveyton township, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2015

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Matshidiso Mofokeng and her fellow activists picket in front of Johannesburg High Court during a trial involving hate speech against LGBTI. 2017

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Tumi Mkhuma with her daughter Willow, Katlehong township, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017

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Duduzile Zozo was a 26-year old black lesbian woman from Tokoza, an eastern Johannesburg township. Her body was found in the courtyard across the street from her house on June 30, 2013. She had been raped and murdered, and the perpetrator had rammed a toilet brush into her anus. Duduzile’s killer was apprehended and later sentenced due to a—for South African standards—unusually thorough and diligent investigation. I followed the case over the years and photographed and interviewed Duduzile's family multiple times.

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Elizabeth Mally and Khotso Simelane in their house in Kwa-Thema, 2017. Their daughter Eudy was a soccer player who played for the South Africa women’s national team and was out as a lesbian. She was raped and murdered in her hometown of KwaThema, Gauteng, in 2008.

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Pictures of Khosi Nkosi, a young lesbian who was killed in Vosloorus Zonkizizwe, on December 4, 2016. So far, the police have not investigated her murder. Her brother Nathi says: “Last week, or last off last week, I phoned the station and I asked to speak directly to the commander. He’s the highest ranking person in the station. The investigators called me afterwards and said they will contact me with an update before today. But they haven’t called me. There’s no investigation at all. I don’t know how these people get any work done. Sometimes I wonder if maybe the criminals bribed the Zonkizizwe police. You do hear about such things happening. I don’t even know who’s responsible for the investigation. I know his name but I’ve never met him: The last time I went to the station and demanded to see him, they told me that he was on some kind of study leave, or training somewhere…. He wasn’t there. There seems to be no accounting system in place, no bosses or supervisors who check the officers’ work. We’re powerless, and helpless.”

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Young lesbian women hanging out on a Sunday afternoon, Vosloorus township, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017

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Mpumie Sibeko with her son Aphiwe, Vosloorus township, South Africa, 2017. Mpumie is in a relationship with a women. When they wanted a baby, the couple asked a mutual friend to donate his sperm.

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Duduzile's mother, father and sister visit her grave. Kromvlei cemetery, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2017

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Duduzile's remaining family of eight lives in a shack in Tokoza township, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2017

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Retired police colonel Johannes Mbeka in his yard in Rondebult, 2017. Mbeka investigated Duduzile’s death and subsequently found and arrested her killer who now serves 30 years in prison. “Her mother didn’t hide the fact that Duduzile was a lesbian. In fact, I was told that she was open about it and that she has accepted her, as have the other family members. When a lesbian is murdered, and you attend to her case, you have to take that fact into account and treat it with courtesy. The purpose of an investigation is also to stop that thing from going further: The people involved in those crimes must know that the law cannot accept that.”

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Tumi Mkhuma in 2012. That year, I met Tumi for the first time. After she told me her story and we said goodbye, she remarked: “When you come back [next time], I might be dead.” This simple, harrowing statement has haunted me ever since. I became committed to investigating further and documenting her life and the lives of her lesbian friends in the years to come. Tumi was attacked by a guy who saw her leave a club late at night. He asked her, “Why are you pretending to be a man? I’m going to prove to you that you are a woman.” He beat her unconscious and raped her after she passed out. She went to the police and told them what happened. The officers taking down her case asked, “Are you really a woman?” They never arrested the man, he is still walking free.

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Projektbeschrieb

In den Townships von Südafrika kommt es oft zu Vergewaltigungen und Morden an lesbischen Frauen durch Männer, die ihnen eine Lektion erteilen und sie zu „richtigen“ – das heisst, heterosexuellen – Frauen machen wollen. Zwar schützt die Verfassung Südafrikas Lesben vor Diskriminierung, doch werden solche Hassverbrechen selten verfolgt. Südafrika war weltweit das erste Land, das Schwulen und Lesben die gleichen Rechte einräumte wie Heterosexuellen.

Während fünf Jahren habe ich die Kluft zwischen diesen fortschrittlichen Gesetzen und der tristen Realität untersucht und gebe in dieser freien Arbeit Einblick in den Alltag von schwarzen Lesben im heutigen Johannesburg.

Diese Serie ist Teil meines “Lesbian Lives Project”, einer Buchserie über lesbische Frauen weltweit. Ziel dieser journalistischen Langzeitstudie ist es, Lesben visuell sichtbarer zu machen sowie ihre gesetzliche und soziale Diskriminierung in verschiedenen Ländern zu untersuchen. In den meisten Staaten sind Lesben von Gleichstellung mit Heterosexuellen weit entfernt; lesbische Frauen fühlen sich aufgrund dieser Ungleichheit und des sozialen Stigmas oft machtlos und traumatisiert.

Ein Buch mit dem Titel "When You Come Back, I Might Be Dead. Black Lesbian Women in Johannesburg and the Promise of a Constitution" – Band 2 im "Lesbian Lives Project" – erscheint Ende 2018 im Eigenverlag. Band 1 untersucht die Situation von lesbischen Frauen in der Schweiz und wird im Juni publiziert.

Mehr Infos finden Sie unter www.lesbianlivesproject.com.

Publikationsinformationen

Titel der Arbeit
When You Come Back, I Might Be Dead