We gave Contralesa the right to abuse us

When Mbeki said HIV didn't cause Aids and refused to roll out ARVs, I thought we would be unforgiving citizens and get rid of him. But we just spoke among ourselves and moved on. Some of us even pledged support for for him and gave him a second term ion office. We did nothing!

When it became clear that a man who escaped corruption charges and acquitted of rape charges would become president of this country, I imagined South Africans would be up in arms and dictate their terms with their votes. No such luck.

We embraced the unfortunate situation and gave power to the party that still fails millions of our people. So many of our rights have been trampled on and because we are such a forgiving or illiterate nation, we continue as if nothing is happening. And so I was not surprised when Contralesa had a dream of changing the constitution, to remove a clause that protects the rights of homosexuals. They know we are submissive and may not object to their suggestions. We need to mobilise the same spirit and attitude used by our parents to get rid of apartheid. We are instead living in a different kind of apartheid.

Clinics run out of critical medication like ARVs, even though we have the capacity to curb such discrepancies. People are still without clean water and electricity. But people are obsessed with infringing on the rights of sexual minorities. We are part of the problem. We do not speak loud enough to be heard. Where are the academics, where are community leaders?