A CAPE Town man says he was brutally attacked and had a part of his right ear shot off - all because he was openly gay and chose to wear shorts.
Lunga Voko, 23, said the attack happened on Easter Sunday, and he reported the case, but he was only contacted by Philippi East police more than a week later.
On the day of the attack he had been celebrating his birthday with friends and family. As he walked friends home at around 5.30pm, they were sworn at by a group of men at a petrol station.
"These guys were hanging out of the windows [of their car], calling me gay, istabane, imoffie because I was wearing my shorts," said Voko.
The car pulled up in front of him and his friends, who ran away.
"They got out of the car and started asking me questions like why I'm a moffie. The next thing one of the guys slapped me and another attacked me with an iron rod, while the others gathered half bricks," said Voko.
He said he lost consciousness after he was hit on the head by the group of young men who he said were clearly drunk.
Some of the witnesses later told his family that the men had pulled his penis out of his pants to see whether he had been circumcised.
Voko was beaten up and one of the men fired at him with a gun. Parts of his right ear were shot off.
He woke up the next day at Groote Schuur Hospital, and after his release three days later he went to the Philippi East police station to lodge a complaint but he said police officers would not do so.
"They only came back to me yesterday [Wednesday], and tracked down the car's number plate through the garage's CCTV footage and managed to find the address of one of the attackers," said Voko.
Western Cape police spokesman André Traut said police were investigating the case and no arrests had yet been made.
But gay rights activist Mabhuti Mkhangeli, who works for the Triangle Project, said the attack on Voko showed that gay people still had difficulty finding acceptance.
He said the worst areas for gays in Cape Town were Nyanga and Khayelitsha townships, where many attacks were perpetrated.
Funeka Soldaat, an LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) activist from Khayelitsha, said gays and lesbians in townships often faced verbal instead of physical abuse.
Attacked for being openly gay
A CAPE Town man says he was brutally attacked and had a part of his right ear shot off - all because he was openly gay and chose to wear shorts.
Lunga Voko, 23, said the attack happened on Easter Sunday, and he reported the case, but he was only contacted by Philippi East police more than a week later.
On the day of the attack he had been celebrating his birthday with friends and family. As he walked friends home at around 5.30pm, they were sworn at by a group of men at a petrol station.
"These guys were hanging out of the windows [of their car], calling me gay, istabane, imoffie because I was wearing my shorts," said Voko.
The car pulled up in front of him and his friends, who ran away.
"They got out of the car and started asking me questions like why I'm a moffie. The next thing one of the guys slapped me and another attacked me with an iron rod, while the others gathered half bricks," said Voko.
He said he lost consciousness after he was hit on the head by the group of young men who he said were clearly drunk.
Some of the witnesses later told his family that the men had pulled his penis out of his pants to see whether he had been circumcised.
Voko was beaten up and one of the men fired at him with a gun. Parts of his right ear were shot off.
He woke up the next day at Groote Schuur Hospital, and after his release three days later he went to the Philippi East police station to lodge a complaint but he said police officers would not do so.
"They only came back to me yesterday [Wednesday], and tracked down the car's number plate through the garage's CCTV footage and managed to find the address of one of the attackers," said Voko.
Western Cape police spokesman André Traut said police were investigating the case and no arrests had yet been made.
But gay rights activist Mabhuti Mkhangeli, who works for the Triangle Project, said the attack on Voko showed that gay people still had difficulty finding acceptance.
He said the worst areas for gays in Cape Town were Nyanga and Khayelitsha townships, where many attacks were perpetrated.
Funeka Soldaat, an LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) activist from Khayelitsha, said gays and lesbians in townships often faced verbal instead of physical abuse.
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