Vusumuzi Dube
Sunday News Correspondent
POLICE in Zimbabwe are seeking information that could lead to the arrest of a 24-year-old employee of a popular restaurant in Harare on charges of allegedly openly exhibiting homosexual activities and inciting the public to demonstrate against the government.
Nigel Chanakira, is a former employee of a local milling company but was now working for a popular restaurant.
In a statement police revealed that Chanakira had been working with organisations focused on advocating for LGBTI rights, to openly encourage communities to demonstrate in the country’s capital against the government.
“Chanakira was using his position as a waiter to demonstrate and advocate for LGBTI rights, which according to the country’s statutes amounts to a crime of inciting public violence.
“He is being sought for further questioning on other charges relating to the operations of their activities, anyone with information on his whereabouts can approach the police,” reads the statement.
Sources close to Chanakira revealed that he could have skipped the country fearing possible arrest.
“As is we do not know where he is by highly likely he could be out of the country considering that he once worked in Durban, South Africa before relocating back to Zimbabwe.
“In the days leading to his disappearance be had hinted on this but we just dismissed it,” said the source.
Zimbabwe is one of the least accepting countries in the world for gay, lesbian and transgender people. A 2006 revision to the country’s criminal code expanded the penalty for sodomy to include acts that “would be regarded by a reasonable person as an indecent act”.
This could include two men holding hands or hugging, and it can be punished by an extended prison term.
The current Zimbabwe Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act makes specific sexual acts illegal, but falls short of criminalising LGBTI status.
According to popular belief, however, homosexuality is a crime. An uninformed media exacerbates this attitude. Homophobic statements by government leaders contribute to a misinformed, highly discriminatory socio-political environment.
Zimbabwe is no exception.
Homosexuality is outlawed in 35 African countries and punishable by death in two countries, Mauritania and Sudan, as well as in some areas of Somalia and Nigeria, according to Amnesty International.
According to a 2018 survey by the non-governmental organisation GALZ (Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe), 50 % of gay men in Zimbabwe had been physically assaulted, and 64 % had been disowned by their families. Twenty-seven percent of lesbians also reported disownment. Often, they are accused of exposing their parents to “blame and shame”.
Bongani Ndlovu