KNOW YOUR RIGHTS – Changes to SAPS Standard Operating Procedures

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Gender DynamiX and partners have been working with the South African Police Services in Cape Town to develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to deal with transgender people.  The objective of this SOP is to ensure the safety of transgender people who are in conflict with the law and to ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect by members of the SAPS. 

Searching, holding cells and police conduct are the main aspects of this SOP.

The Criminal Procedures Act states that a man will be searched by a man.  After lengthy negotiations SAPS recognises that trans-women are women and trans-men are men as guided by ACT 49. This means, if a trans-person is carrying an Identity Document that reflects her/his gender then that trans-person can demand to be searched by a police of the same gender, regardless of lack of genital surgery.

All transgender persons should be detained in separate detention facilities at the police station where the person was arrested. In the event of separate detention facilities not being available at the police station where the arrest was affected, the transgender person must be transported and be detained at the identified detention facility within the cluster.

Transgender people should report any form of abuse, including removal of wigs and other gender affirming prosthetics.

The implementation of this SOP is accompanied by sensitisation workshops of the SAPS members. This will be piloted in and around Cape Town and in Johannesburg. We urge transgender people to report their bad and good experiences with the police as that will help us monitor the change of attitudes and the implementation of this ground breaking SOP.

Legal And Advocacy Strategic Planning Workshop for 2013

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At the 2013 Legal And Advocacy Strategic Planning Workshop that was held on
29th and 30th November 2012 at Gender DynamiX, it was acknowledged that
there is still a lot of advocacy work that needs to be done, but in order to
be more effective GDX would have to focus on a few priorities instead of
spreading themselves too thin.

Of these priorities, Act 49 of 2003 remained high on the list and a possible
court case has not been ruled out. Other areas of work included guidelines
for standard operating procedures for SAPS, Metro Police and Correctional
Services when dealing with transgender people, Shelter systems, Department
of Basic Education and labour issues.

Access to intersex and transgender health care remains a high priority. The
platforms and initiative  discussed included National Strategic Plan,
National Health Insurance, the Groote Schuur Hospital Gender Clinic,  South
African Transgender Health Rights and Initiative and SANAC. Transgender and
Intersex movement-building was also identified as an important part of the
strategy for 2013.

On the second day the attendees looked at different global advocacy
platforms where Gender DynamiX could be active and ultimately they
prioritised UNUPR. A lively discussion on issues that Gender DynamiX must
have a position on followed. One of those issues is (de)pathologisation of
transgender identities. A Legal audit on laws that affect transgender and
intersex people was also discussed and prioritised for next year as the
outcomes will inform future Gender DynamiX advocacy work. The workshop was
concluded by finalising next year’s  workplan and time frames.

“This two-day advocacy and litigation strategic planning session for 2013
proved to us that there are many issues that need to be addressed, but it
also soon became evident that Gender DynamiX would have to prioritise to
ensure we stay focused on the most important matters instead of giving a
little attention to a lot issues and not doing justice to all,” Liesl
Theron, Executive Director of Gender DynamiX said after the workshop.

Present at the workshop were Liesl Theron, He-Jin Kim, Sibusiso Kheswa (all
Gender DynamiX), Estian Smit (Independent Activist and volunteer at Gender
DynamiX), Robert Hamblin (Independent Activist), Sally Gross (Intersex South
Africa), Sanja Bornman (Women’s Legal centre, present on Day One only),
Leigh-Ann van der Merwe (S.H.E.) and Arnaud de Villiers (Gender DynamiX
Management committee).

Transgender Day of Remembrance – 2012

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The Transgender Day Of Remembrance (TDOR), a day during which victims of transphobic homicides are remembered by trans people, their friends, family and allies, was started by Gwendolyn Ann Smith following the murder of Rita Hester in the the USA in 1998. The memorial, on 20 November, has since evolved from a web-based project started by Smith into an international day of action in more than 185 cities in more than 20 countries of which Cape Town is one. This year will be the 14th Annual TDOR.

This year (2012) we remember:

On 9 June 2012 Thapelo “Queen Bling” Makutle was killed because she was gender nonconforming. According to a witness report, she had an argument in a bar with two heterosexual men regarding her sexuality. The men later followed her home, broke into her apartment and slit her throat. South African NGO LEGBO called it a transphobic attack, adding that “she was mutilated, her genitalia cut out and a bottle inserted into her body.”

24 June 2012 the body of Sasha Lee Gordon, a trans woman sex worker was found in Wynberg, Cape Town. She had been stabbed through the heart and left to die on the pavement.

1 July 2012, a 19 year old trans woman who engaged in sex work (name withheld as requested by family for family privacy) was shot dead by a client who discovered she was  trans. (Western Cape)

Vuyisa Dayisi’s dead body was discovered next to her shack in Duncan Village, East London on Sunday morning, 15 July 2012. This was a great shock to all the minority groups in East London to whom she was known as “Norizana”. The 28- year old Vuyisa proudly identified as a transgender woman and was known to everyone in her community.

However, on TDOR this year, in addition to the trans people who were victims of transphobic hate crimes, Gender DynamiX will also pay tribute to those who died by their own hand as a result of trans issues.

Lyndsay, whose story is told in the book Trans – Transgender Life Stories from South Africa, committed suicide 28 October 2012.  Reportedly she had been very depressed for a few weeks leading up to her death and had been struggling with depression for a number of years.

Liyaah Starr cut herself 46 times with a scalpel and then hanged herself on 6 April. Liyaah had been suffering from depression since 2008 when she was wrongfully accused of raping a 15 year-old boy.  According to her mother, Ms Erica Hill, Liyaah never got over the horror of the arrest, the ensuing court case and the 14 terror-filled days she spent in a male cell in a police prison during the trial.

“As a person who has been in the throes of depression myself for a number of years, I can relate and it touches me in the deepest part of me that such incidents still occur,” said Azania Maseko, Board member of Gender DynamiX.

“Transgender people are still systematically marginalised. They face a lot of challenges in accessing health care, education and jobs and other social services. This state of affairs causes distress and directly contribute to loss of transgender lives as living becomes unbearable. Let us continue to work towards a world where everyone can live with dignity,” S’bu Kheswa, Advocacy Co-ordinator at Gender DynamiX said.

Welcome to our new website!

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Gender DynamiX has been working hard on a new website that is easier to navigate than the previous one, and that has all the materials that the organisation has produced over its 7 year history available for download. You will find here brochures regarding Act 49, health, transgender rights, lifestories, reports, and much more, in the resources section. We will update this website regularly and place the latest news here for people to read: announcements to events, reflections on workshops, news regarding transgender issues in South Africa, updates on Transitioning Africa (the coalition between Gender DynamiX, SIPD, and TIA, that works in the African region for transgender and intersex rights), and much more. Please also check out our facebook page, and soon we will start engaging on twitter as well, especially during events.

As with all new and improved things, it might need a few improvements along the road as we figure out issues, if something doesn’t work properly, feel free to contact us!