Africa’s gay haven

As more gay people ”come out” in African countries, they are forced to flee and seek asylum in foreign countries because many states condemn homosexuality. The majority of homosexuals tend to use South Africa as a gateway to their liberty as the country is gay-friendly.

One of these is Thierry Irambona, a Burundian who is on the run to avoid arrest and persecution from police in his country.

Irambona fled to South Africa early this year. But he did not realise that without an asylum-seeker’s temporary permit, life could be difficult. He got his permit at the Tshwane refugee office and lost it a few days later after being mugged. This made him an ‘illegal”.

The refugee affairs division of home affairs requires him to apply for another one. Irambona is afraid that if he fails the interview he might face repatriation.

‘It’s not automatic that you get the permit,” says Busiwe Mkhwebane-Tshehla, the refugee affairs director.

Mkhwebane-Tshehla says a temporary permit for any asylum-seeker will be granted when ‘any person runs away from their country because of prosecutions resulting from war, political opinion, religious belief or public disorder”. Persecution of homosexuals is prioritised because this is an abuse of human rights, says Mkhwebane-Tshehla.

Irambona obtained his permit because he is gay and was persecuted in his country. But he refuses to apply for the second permit because he feels the adjudication process is humiliating. ‘I’m confined within a house. I cannot go to hospital when I get sick because I have missed the deadline for submission,” he says.

Irambona says: ‘South Africa is a nice place compared with the rest. I cannot go home because there are no homosexual rights in Burundi.”

In his country, Irambona says, homosexuality is treated as a serious crime. Long-term jail sentences or death sentences can be meted out by the courts. ‘My life is hell and I have given up.”

Joel Nana works for an international gay organisation in South Africa. But Nana did not go through the humiliating experience that many homosexuals do.

The young Cameroonian has had the backing of his family. He disclosed his sexual orientation at the age of 17 and the family supported him. ‘But my extended family, my father’s sister, sent police and I ran away to Nigeria,” says Nana.

Although Cameroon legislates against homosexuality, Nana would not be arrested because of his wealthy family. ‘It’s horrible there because of day-to-day fights and threats against homosexuals. The school [the university he attended] was very much against homosexuality, but they couldn’t expel me. My family is highly profiled.”

South Africa is a better country for gay people to live, he says. ‘South Africa is better than my country because there’s a lot of awareness and education, although I still love my country.”

Many African countries, especially the secular states, deplore homosexuality because they believe that it’s un-African to be gay, while some churches resort to religious ideologies to reject it.

Mashilo Mnisi is managing editor of Behind the Mask