The continuing discrimination and violence faced by women and those living with HIV and AIDS advocates in South Africa is enormous and warrants the attention and action of government officials and the international community.

On Sunday in Soweto Meadowlands, Sizakele Sigasa, an outreach coordinator at Positive Women’s Network and an LGBT rights activist, and her friend Salome, were tortured and brutally murdered. Sizakele was found, her hands tied together by her underpants and her ankles tied together by her shoelaces, with three bullet holes in her head and three in her collarbone.

In June, Simangele Nhlapho, a member of a support group for women living with HIV run by Positive Women’s Network, was found dead with her two year old daughter. Simagele and her daughter were raped and killed; the daughter was found with both legs broken. In April, 16 year-old Madoe Mafubedu, who was living openly as a lesbian, was raped and repeatedly stabbed until she died.

While police have yet to make any arrests in relation to these senseless murders, these hate crimes underscore the need to forcefully end discrimination based on gender and sexuality, as well as the stigma and discrimination that women living with HIV and AIDS face. The increase of access to treatment for people living with HIV in poor areas and the proliferation of clinics have not managed to erode one of the most destructive effects of AIDS: stigma. In South Africa, where women comprise 58% of those living with HIV, gender discrimination often leaves them unable to negotiate condom use or disclose their status to their families and partners (who are often infected as well). Many women today are still afraid to be tested, and women receiving antiretroviral treatment have been known to hide their medicines under their beds for fear of bearing the brunt of physical abuse and alienation. Every six hours in South Africa a woman is killed by a male partner; every 26 minutes a woman is raped.

The epidemic of hate crimes against lesbians is growing in South Africa. There have been a series of documented cases of brutal sexual assaults and murders of lesbians, particularly black lesbians in township areas, and very few (no?) prosecutions. The murder of Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006 was met with international condemnation of homophobic hate crimes in South Africa; however little has changed.

There is no excuse for violence and there is no reason that women and children should live in fear due to their gender, sexual orientation or HIV status. We call on law enforcement, government officials and human rights groups to take a stand. These victims deserve more than rhetoric; they require that we take concrete and constructive steps to stop these hate crimes. To be effective, these actions must address the roles and responsibilities of all parties in condemning violence in all forms.

For more information contact the PWN office 011 339 7679 or 078 3893 9529 and 1 in 9 Campaign or You can talk to Dawn at 083 278 7033 go to the website of 1 in 9 .