EFF leader Julius Malema has attacked Uganda's new anti-homosexuality legislation saying it was meant to target the poor as well as result in people being killed based on hatred.
Malema said this on Tuesday during a march outside the Ugandan embassy in Pretoria in protest against the country's anti-homosexual bill that was passed last month, seeking to criminalise people identifying themselves as LGBTQ+. Those found guilty could face up to 20 years in prison. Those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” will face a death penalty.
"Today all those who are being killed in Uganda, it's because it's a community that belongs to LGBTQI+, as a result they get killed because you woke up one day [and] you didn't like them. How are you going to identify that a person is gay?
"What scientific method are you going to use that she is lesbian? All you're going to do is to look at a person and out of hatred and decide that this one is gay and this one is lesbian. It cannot be correct that you identify people on the basis of hatred and that you kill them.
"Leave the people the way they are. It is not our problem. It is not your problem. It is not a problem. What if Yoweri Museveni (Uganda president) was gay? He could still discover that. Some people discover their sexuality at a much later stage. He may still come out," Malema said.
"In his family, there are people who belong in the gay community. Those will not be killed because they are his family, but those who are not his family, those who don't have political connections, those who are not from well-known families and business families, they are going to be killed because they are gay and are poor and cannot afford the political connections..."
Malema said gay rights were human rights.
"As long as people in Uganda are not free, we're not free."
Malema tells Ugandan authorities anti-gay hate won't be tolerated
EFF leader leads protest against east African country's bill at its embassy
Image: ANTONIO MUCHAVE
EFF leader Julius Malema has attacked Uganda's new anti-homosexuality legislation saying it was meant to target the poor as well as result in people being killed based on hatred.
Malema said this on Tuesday during a march outside the Ugandan embassy in Pretoria in protest against the country's anti-homosexual bill that was passed last month, seeking to criminalise people identifying themselves as LGBTQ+. Those found guilty could face up to 20 years in prison. Those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” will face a death penalty.
"Today all those who are being killed in Uganda, it's because it's a community that belongs to LGBTQI+, as a result they get killed because you woke up one day [and] you didn't like them. How are you going to identify that a person is gay?
"What scientific method are you going to use that she is lesbian? All you're going to do is to look at a person and out of hatred and decide that this one is gay and this one is lesbian. It cannot be correct that you identify people on the basis of hatred and that you kill them.
"Leave the people the way they are. It is not our problem. It is not your problem. It is not a problem. What if Yoweri Museveni (Uganda president) was gay? He could still discover that. Some people discover their sexuality at a much later stage. He may still come out," Malema said.
"In his family, there are people who belong in the gay community. Those will not be killed because they are his family, but those who are not his family, those who don't have political connections, those who are not from well-known families and business families, they are going to be killed because they are gay and are poor and cannot afford the political connections..."
Malema said gay rights were human rights.
"As long as people in Uganda are not free, we're not free."
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