Former ANC councillor Nhlanhla Buthelezi has declared that his new KwaZulu-Natal-based People’s Revolutionary Movement party (PRM) is set to contest the upcoming elections on an anti-LGBTQ platform.
Launched in 2016 in Durban, the party affirmed that, “As a movement we are 100 percent against same-sex marriages. The movement stands for a normal society that consists of men and women”.
“We denounce those leaders who promote Sodom and Gomorrah,” the party’s then spokesperson announced.
While reports from the Institute of Race Relations has revealed KwaZulu-Natal to be the second most homophobic province in South Africa, the PRM looks to strengthen its bigoted policies by campaigning to be elected into the provincial and national parliaments so it could have a platform to fight for the
banning of the rights of “gays and lesbians”.
Spokesperson Thembelani Ngubane said that the party has raised the R605,000 deposit to contest the elections and is planning to launch its manifesto in uMlazi, south of Durban.
“The same-sex marriage law is wrong,” said Ngubane.
Furthermore, Ngubane said that the PRM also wants the government to stop employing foreign nationals “as there are millions of unemployed South Africans”. He also added that his party wanted the government to ban the import of foreign products such as cars, TVs and cellphones.
Sibongile Khumalo, project co-coordinator for Durban’s Lesbian and Gay Community and Health Centre, said gays and lesbians’ rights were enshrined in the Constitution and has vowed to use all constitutional measures to prevent political parties from campaigning for the general elections on policies that
attempt to violate the rights of people in same-sex relationships.
“If they campaign against us, we will go out to campaign against them, since the Constitution does not allow for gender and race discrimination. We will use the Constitution to tell them that they cannot conduct campaigns by violating other people’s rights,” said Khumalo.
She said they were also relying on the Human Rights Commission and the Commission for Gender Equality for protection.
Trees to celebrate Arbor Month