Madam Speaker, Ministers, colleagues, during our public hearing I received this anonymous message. Let me read it to you.
I am a boy of 25 years. My appearance is that of a girl. My voice, my movement and everything within is that of a girl. In short, I am a boy in a girl's body. What must I do? I tried forthe past few years to be a boy, playing with boys, tried to make my voice deeper. Tried to move like a boy but I cannot. What must I do? Minister, where must I go? My family won't understand. They say I bore them. They say I am a disgrace to the family.
Ke ba tshehisa ka batho, ke tlontlolla lelapa la bona. [I make
them a laughing matter in the community, and I am a disgrace to the family.]
The truth of the matter is, I am a boy in a girl's body. What must I do? Where must I go? Sometimes I feel like killing myself for my family and my community make a joke of me. Sometimes I ask myself: why me in this family? Why did God do this to me? It is because God hates me. Ntate Meshoe, (Mr)is it because God hates me? What must I do? Where must I go? Lucky are those who don't have kids like me, those who don't have grandchildren like me, those who live their lives freely, those who can move and those who are accepted by everyone, those who are loved by God. What must I do? Where must I go?
The fact of the matter is: I am a girl. I feel free when I am with girls. You will never understand what is within me, because you are lucky. You are not like me. You are very lucky because in this land God only loves you. Please, I want to live like you. I want to be accepted like you. I want to practice my rights like you. I am human being. I want to be free. I think God loves me too.
Don't even wish to have children like me. Don't even wish to have children and grandchildren like me. I wonder if that happens, what would you do, Ntate Meshoe? (Mr) It can happen. It can be your child or it can be your grandchild. I am a South African. I belong here. I also want my rights and my dignity to be protected because I am here to stay.
Mme Sebui, ka morao ha ho bala molaetsa ona, ke ile ka ipotsa hore, nna ke mang, ke tswa kae? Ka ipotsa hore na ho a hlokahala hore ke hatelle ditokelo tsa batho ba bang. Ke mang nna, ya tlang ho tlosa le ho silafatsa seriti sa batho ba bang? Ke mang nna, ya ka etsang hore batho ba bang ba se ke ba thabela tokoloho ya bona? Nna ya neng a se na ditokelo, ya neng a hatelletswe.
Le nna ke ne ke se na ditokelo tse kang ho fumana metsi, ke ne ke fuwa metsi a ditshila, ke nweswa metsi hammoho le matata le difariki letamong. Nna ke mang ya ka bang le tokelo ya hore tjhe ho ditokelo tsa batho ba bang? Nna ya neng a sa kgone le ho fuwa ntlwana, nna ya neng a sebedisa thota, ke ne ke sebedisa lejwe le jwang jwalo ka pampiri ya ntlwaneng. Ke ne ke amohilwe seriti sa ka.
Ke mang nna moo nka reng tjhe ho ditokelo tsa batho ba bang? Ke mang nna ya neng a pepela ngwana fatshe ha ke ne ke ithwetse, ke ne ke sa tsamay e tleliniki, ke ne ke tholla ngwana fatshe mobung, ho ne ho se na le ngaka, ke ne ke nketswe ditokelo tsa ka tsa bophelo bo botle.
Hobaneng ke tshwanela ho etsa dintho tsena ho batho ba bang? Hobaneng ke tshwanela ho kgetholla? Hobaneng ke tshwanetse ho hatella batho ba bang, ha Molaotheo wa rona o dumelletse hore motho e mong le e mong o na le ditokelo.
Mme Sepikara, ha re ne re tsamaile, ntho e hlokolotsi e ileng ya hlaha ke hore, bana ba batho ba bong bo tshwanang ba nyalaneng, ba tla sotlakwa ka thobalano. Modulasetulo, le manyalong a tlwaelehileng bana ba rona ba ntse ba sotlakwa.
Ho na le bontate ba tswetseng bana, ba be ba boele hape ba robale le bona bana bao, hona jwale re ntse re nyalane re le bomme le ntate. Hona jwale re ntse re nyalana ka tsela ena e tlwaelehileng ho na le ntate mane Bethlehem ya ileng a nka bana ba hae ba babedi a ba otla ka lejwe; a ba pakela ka sutukheising; a ba lahlela letamong. E ntse e le motswadi wa bona. Ebe phapang e kae he moo, ho tswa ho botho ba motho, re ke ke ra etsa dintho tse tjena.
Modulasetulo re na le Molaotheo wa rona, Molaotheo ona ha oa ngolwa ke ANC feela, o ngotswe ke Afrika Borwa kaofela, ho kenyeleditse le bona ba hananang le ona kajeno lena, e ne le le bankakarolo ho ngolweng ha Molaotheo ona.
Re tlameha ho hlompha Molaotheo ona, le hona ho etsa bonnete ba hore o a sebetsa. Ke mosebetsi wa rona ho etsa bonnete ba hore Molaotheo o a sebetsa. Rona ba ANC le ba bang re utlwisisa hore kgethollo bathong ke ntho e jwang. Re phetse tlasa mahlasipa a kgethollo moo re neng re tshwantshwa le ditshwene ebile re bitswa mekgodutswane. Afrika Borwa ena, ke ya rona bohle, bohle ba dulang ho yona, seriti, hlompho le ditokelo tsa bona di sireletsehile. [Nako e fedile.] [Mahofi.] (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[Madam Speaker, after reading this message I asked myself, who am I and where do I come from?. I asked myself whether it is necessary for me to violate other people's rights. Who am I to demean other people's dignity? Who am I to make other people not to enjoy their freedom? I was also denied many rights and I was oppressed.
I did not have access to clean water. I used unhygienic water, drinking from the dam with ducks and pigs. Who am I to have a right to say no to other people's rights? I am the same person who did not have a toilet, who used an open field for a toilet, and used grass and stones for toilet paper. I am the same person whose dignity was taken away.
Who am I then to say no to other people's rights? How can I say that, when I gave birth on the floor, when I did not attend a clinic, which is why I gave birth on the dusty ground? There was not even a doctor. My rights to good health were taken away. How can I do such things to other people? Why should I discriminate? Why should I oppress other people when our Constitution allows each and every person to have rights?
Madam Speaker while we were doing public hearings, the most sensitive thing that was raised was that children in same-sex marriages will be sexually abused. Even in normal marriages our children are being abused. There are fathers who give birth to children and, as those children grow, they have sex with the very same children. That also happens in a marriage of a man and woman. There is a man in Bethlehem who is in a heterosexual marriage, he stoned his two kids and stuffed them in a suitcase and thereafter he threw them into the dam. Where is the difference in humanity? We cannot do such things.
Madam Speaker, we have a Constitution that was not drafted by the ANC alone. It was drafted by the whole of South Africa including those who are opposing it today. They had a contribution in drafting this Constitution. We must respect this Constitution and make sure that it works. It is our duty to ensure that it is effective.
We, as members of the ANC and others, understand what discrimination is like to other people. We were victims of racism, and we were always called baboons and lizards. This South Africa is for all of us. The dignity and rights of all those who live in it must be protected.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]]