By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za
Karabo Rebone Chakale’s family doesn’t have a problem with her sexual orientation. They are ok with the fact that she didn’t choose to become a lesbian.
However, Chakale’s obstacle to her life is her male neighbour at eighth Roosevelt, Alexandra who has a serious problem with her being a lesbian.
She says she opened a case against a man who allegedly beat her up on Thursday around 8 PM. The perpetrator has yet to be apprehended.
“I’m scared for my life,” she says, adding that the culprit is not comfortable with her being outspoken and proud of who she is.
“My family doesn’t have a problem with my sexuality but. But because of this man, I feel unsafe whenever I go outside.”
She says she’s already been harassed by someone else. He ran to the cop shop after she told him that she was going to take legal action against him.
She received instructions from the police to go to mediation, but she refused.
” They said is procedure.”
Chakale is an outspoken person and God fearing. She was once a member of Work To Win Founder of Diepsloot/ Braamfisher, which was responsible for leading the community of K206 Ext9.
She is a revolutionary and member of the Socialist Party of Azania. She has one child and two grandchildren.
When she used to date a man, she had feelings for women, too.
It was at this point that her father told her that she was a lesbian.
“He told me to feel free, to live my life and to stop getting confused. I want the community to understand that lesbians are people as well.
“We are not confused and did not choose to be like that. We were born like that. I wish our president could take GBV seriously and make an example with people who commit such crimes, “she said.
Chakale said she didn’t want her case to be heard in Alexandra Magistrate’s Court, as she feels the docket would disappear.
Same-sex relations are legal in only 22 of Africa’s 54 countries and are punishable by death or lengthy prison terms in some nations, according to a global review here by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).
Nearly half of the countries worldwide where homosexuality is outlawed are in Africa, according to a 2020 global review by the ILGA.
