Noxolo Nogwaza was gang raped, stoned and stabbed to death South Africa’s law enforcers are setting up a task force to address crimes against glbt people after the “corrective rape” and murder of a young lesbian activist. More than 170,000 people from all around the world signed a petition on Change.org calling for the South African Government to act after Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24-year-old lesbian, was gang raped, stoned and stabbed to death using shards of broken glass nearly two weeks ago. The Ministry of Justice says a new task force will tackle issues such as whether crimes against the gay, lesbian and transgender community should be considered hate crimes, whether a rape motivated by sexual orientation should receive a harsher sentence and increased sensitivity training for police, social workers and judiciary officials. No one has been apprehended in the Nogwaza case, which Human Rights Watch says is the latest in a long series of sadistic crimes against lesbians, gay men and transgender people in South Africa.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 5th May 2011 - 4:09pm