Durban — KwaZulu-Natal MEC Nomagugu Simelane said that when there was a crime committed, it needed to be investigated and dealt with.
She highlighted that gender-based violence also existed within the LGBTQI+ community, to which some who were present in the crowd were heard agreeing, saying, “they hit us”.
“When the community comes to report gender-based violence, we need to take serious because it is just as serious as gender-based violence in any other relationship. But this is a discussion we will have as government to see how we address this moving forward because we need to take this seriously whether I agree with your lifestyle or not.
“The fact that you are females and you are in a relationship, it shouldn’t even be happening that one beats the other,” Simelane said.
She said that violence against one another in the province was a problem, adding that it was not proper to be in a relationship with a person you feared.
“I’m hoping that in a very short space of time, some of the issues we tackled today, I can report back on soon. Some of the issues that you have raised are issues that we will be tackling for the first time in KZN, so it's important that we are conscious that policy-making and policy decision does not move as quickly as we want to,” she said.
Simelane also urged members of the LGBTQI+ community to start with the basics and to take care of themselves while the department improved access to hormonal therapy and in-vitro fertilisation.
“We are going to discuss the issue of IV and artificial insemination as an alternative for now as well as hormones and how we should be transporting everyone in the province to see if we can make this central and accessible.”
Daily News