Human rights groups has described Zambia vice president claims that the
the government will prohibit university scholarship for young LGBTQ+ people as a perpetuation of the African country’s homophobic practices.
A GALZ sponsored state university scholarship for people between the ages of 18 and 35, a membership organization for LGBTQ+ people in Zimbabwe which started offering it in 2018 without incident.
A new online advertisement inviting applications has attracted harsh feedback from Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, a devoutee Catholic and former army commander.
Chiwenga said the scholarship was a direct challenge to the government’s authority despite GALZ claims that scholarship seeks to provide equal access to state universities for LGBTQ and people who are often ostracized by their families, struggling to pay for higher education.
With no comment on the vice president’s statement, a coalition of human rights groups, said GALZ demonstrated that sexual and gender minorities are endangered in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has laws criminalizing homosexual activity. Sex between men carries a potential sentence of up to a year in prison, and the country’s constitution bans gay and lesbianism.
The country has a history of discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has shown little reactions to anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric but Chiwenga’s threat to ban the scholarship highlights the continued hostility from authorities and sections of society, including influential religious groups, remains.
Former President Robert Mugabe, who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years, once said the people who engage in such act “worse than dogs and pigs” and unworthy of legal rights.
Zimbabwe’s Catholic bishops has warned against the Pope Francis’ declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples, citing respect of the law of the land, our culture and for moral reasons.
The country has once stopped public acts that may appear to demonstrate approval of gay people in 2021, during a planned visit by a gay South African celebrity, Somizi Mhlongo, for the reopening of a trendy Zimbabwean restaurant which was canceled after Christian and members of the ruling ZANU-PF party’s youth wing vowed to block his appearance.
