Zambia has 500,000 gays, says ZIMT

A Zambia Independent Monitoring Team (ZIMT) has revealed that there are about 500,000 gay/lesbians in Zambia, disclosed ZIMT president Alfred Zulu yesterday.

Zulu, reacting to charges by information and broadcasting minister and chief government spokesman David Mpamba and legal affairs minister Vincent Malambo that homosexuality is anti-African and government will not accept the registration of a Gays and Lesbians Association in Zambia, said the two public officers are probably ignorant or are pretending that homosexuality or Lesbianism does not exist in Zambia.

"The bigotry exhibited by Mr. Mpamba and Mr. Malambo emanates purely as a point of prejudice and is a blatant attempt to discriminate against the minority group of people whom the government would want to believe are social misfits when in fact they are not," Zulu charged. "The gays, lesbians, bi- sexuals and transgender persons are protected by the Republican Constitution which is above subsidiary laws (Penal Code) like those cited by Mr. Malambo and Mr. Mpamba. In fact the felony of Sodomy should be repealed from the Zambian laws because the enjoyment of homosexuality relationship by persons of that sex orientation is not an offence in a democratic and civilised society like Zambia." Zulu, who is also programme manager of the Lesbians, Gays, Bi- sexuals and Transgender Association (LEGATRA), said persons of this sexual orientation are and have been in Zambia from the time the African Society came into existence and it is not a socially acquired condition but a biological and genetically in- born character.

"Instead, persons like the two ministers, should copy the example of South Africa which has legalised homosexuality and incorporated it in the Republican Constitution," Zulu pointed out. "The call for the exclusion of a gay lesbian society in Zambia, is propelled by an argument from the religious right which is tantamount to exhibiting an ethnocentric view discriminating against the minorities."

He said minorities, like the gays, should be protected by enacting an appropriate public policy which they expected Mpamba and Malambo to support.

"The two ministers are misinforming the government and diverting public interest and appreciation that minority rights need to be protected and promoted," Zulu said. "President Frederick Chiluba's presidential oath of office undertakes to protect and promote all human rights, including minorities. This oath of office is centred on the head of state upholding the Republican Constitution. It therefore follows that LEGATRA will be registered as planned because the Zambian laws are such that we are in a pluralist society where our laws allow freedom of association and assembly."

He said if there is a law impeding this registration process of LEGATRA, they shall prevail upon the Registrar of Society to grant LEGATRA a certificate of registration without hardships.

"Registration is going on as planned and the public are hereby informed to ignore totally government view on the originality of homosexuality and lesbianism," Zulu said. "LEGATRA has information that some public officials who need our services are still feeling shy to go public." Malambo, in an interview with the state owned Zambia Daily Mail on Tuesday, warned that government will not permit homosexual activities because they were illegal and an abomination of the African culture.

He told the Zambia Daily Mail that under CAP 87 Section 155 of the Laws of Zambia, homosexuality was a felony which carried a custodial sentence of 14 years imprisonment on conviction of the offender. He said pronouncements that an association for homosexuals would be registered were misplaced because the Registrar of Societies would not allow an association that would commit a crime.

Malambo said registration of such a civic awareness association would, therefore, in itself be a crime. Mpamba also scoffed at the people behind the formation of the gay association saying the practice was "un African and an abomination to society which would cause social decay". He called on Zulu who is the project co-ordinator for the gay movement to resign from his position because he was misleading the nation on the issue of homosexuality.

Gay promoters face arrest

GOVERNMENT has instructed law enforcement officers to arrest anybody spearheading registration of an association for homosexuals. Home Affairs Minister Dr Peter Machungwa, warned in Lusaka yesterday that police would arrest leaders of the group if they tried to register it. Those intending to register the association would be picked as soon as they approach the registrar of societies.

He said government would not promote lawlessness in the nation and urged leaders of the group to come down to earth. Dr Machungwa came out in support of earlier warnings from Legal Affairs Minister Vincent Malambo and Chief Government Spokesman David Mpamba. The two leaders warned that government would not permit homosexual activities because they were contrary to CAP 87 Section 155 of the Laws of Zambia.

Meanwhile, MACTREVOR BWALAYA reports that the Registrar of Societies says he will not register anybody wishing to form an association for homosexuals. Registrar Herbert Nyendwa said in Lusaka yesterday that his organisation would not register any association for homosexuals because the activity was illegal. Mr Nyendwa was clarifying an earlier statement in which he was reported to have said that he could consider registering such an association if its constitution merited it. However, Mr Nyendwa said he would not even look at the constitution of such an association because such a grouping would be illegal. "If and when they come to my office, I will not register them because it is illegal under the Penal Code," he said.

Mr Nyendwa further dismissed the possibility of the project promoters reaching his office, saying they first had to lodge their constitution with the police whom he was sure would not entertain them. Mr Nyendwa said Legal Affairs Minister Vincent Malambo and chief government spokesman David Mpamba had already made it clear that no gay movement should be registered because it was illegal. And ZANA reports that Bishop Mambo has urged government not to register the NGO that is allegedly aimed at promoting the rights of homosexuals in Zambia.

He said gays did not have any rights that needed to be protected because they were abnormal people who needed to be restored through counseling. Bishop Mambo added that having a gay community could not be allowed in Zambia because it is a Christian nation. Some people are calling for the formation of a non-governmental organisation to promote and protect the rights of gays. The Zambia Independent Monitoring Team (ZIMT) supports gays and its president Alfred Zulu said homosexuals have been in Zambia from the time the African society came into existence. He said homosexualism was not a socially acquired condition but a biological and genetically in-born character.