There is a temptation to dismiss Robert Mugabe as a figure of fun. But the time has come — following his government’s attempt to ban the participation of gays in the Zimbabwe book fair — to get serious with the man and let him know that we regard his continued displays of homophobia as a disgrace to the sub-continent.
South Africa has taken a firm stand on the gay issue. The prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, entrenched in our Bill of Rights, stands as a world first. It is backed by all our political parties with the sole (and shameful) exception of the African Christian Democratic Party.
Our government has already started to give practical effect to the principle, not only recognising the rights of gays to serve in the military, but making provision for a monitoring system in the armed forces to ensure that homosexuals are not victimised. Draft legislation on child care has dropped gender references in regard to adoption. Legal recognition of same-sex unions with reform of matrimonial legislation is only a matter of time. Our commitment to the defence of the rights of this tiny minority group is crystal clear.
Mugabe’s public attacks on gays — his description of them as being “worse than dogs and pigs” — can only be described as incitement to hatred. It is a reflection of our abhorrence of hate speech that the South African Constitution specifically exempts it from protection under the Bill of Rights.
Zimbabwe is, of course, a sovereign nation. But the poison of hatred and discrimination is no respecter of national boundaries and could quite easily spill across our borders. It is time South Africa took a stand.
Mugabe holds himself out to be an African statesman and has shown himself keen to take a personal lead in defusing the hatreds that have made of our continent a human abattoir. As a first step, our diplomats should drop a quiet word in Harare that South Africa sees no reason to accept the leadership of a man who is incapable of recognising his own contribution to the politics of hatred.