The Kwa-Zulu Natal hearing by Keith Downs

Keith’s Blog, following a day in Dusty New Hanover

There was a lot of confusion surrounding the date place and time, but following the confusion caused by badly publicised venue changes, our intrepid group of activists finally found the venue of the kwaZulu Natal public hearings into same sex marriage. It required the diligence of a Sherlock Holmes to pin it down after we were informed that the venue was the New Hanover Hall in Pietermaritzburg. It was actually at the Community Hall in New Hanover about 60 km out of PMB in a very rural area. The existence of a notice to the members of the KZN legislature informing them that the hearings were to be held in the parliament buildings in Pietermaritzburg the next day added to the confusion wrought earlier in the week when we were told that the hearings would be held in Ulundi.

The Gay activists were also able to penetrate the wall of confusion and found their way there in more than representative numbers......... although one gay group seemed to have had a bit of bother with their slogan emblazoned minibus which was conked out on the side of the road. This was understandable as the Gauteng provincial number plates indicated that it had travelled quite a long distance.

The hearings started late and the hall was packed to capacity when the meeting was opened by the local Mayor, resplendent in his chains, who declared the hearings to be part of the programme to "Bring Parliament to the People". The senior clerk then pronounced the venue to be a Parliamentary precinct and then explanations continued in Zulu. There were requests from non Zulu speakers for a translator, but they were informed that this would take too long. It is to be hoped that the members of the panel with non-Zulu names and surnames were able to understand the proceedings.

The first up to speak was a local Islamic cleric who gave a clear and scholarly presentation which was followed by a round of applause from the community. The speaker called for order and reprimanded the crowd saying that members do not applause in parliament, and he instructed the assembly to refrain from doing so.

Believing their own PR, the gay activists had come to present the media trumpeted line that aligned their plight to the liberation struggle and the discrimination of the past. It soon became clear that in the rural heartland of kwaZulu Natal, people were not willing to buy into this. Having endured the family and community destroying effects of apartheid they were not happy with another assault on the integrity of their homes.

The speaker repeatedly denigrated the use of scriptures, both from the local community and the people who had travelled in from Pietermaritzburg and Durban. He did not acknowledge that the matter before the assembly was that of a compromise of a holy religious union and therefore religious input was justified.

An order ruling was made that they were there to hear inputs and not answer questions, which was an insensitive way of dismissing the traditional Zulu manner of emphasising statements in the form of a rhetorical question: Statements such as “Why are you here?” “Why do you bring this foreign thing upon us?” “This is not an African thing, it is of the Umlungus (Foreigners)” soon brought me to a realization that the reason behind the changes of venue were probably not part of a sinister plot to evade the input of Evangelicals. The political career of the District Mayor had clearly taken a bad turn when he welcomed the strange foreign ideas of the government into this area. The speaker was trying to mitigate this effect. A Mayor from a place further into the cultural heartland, such as Ulundi, would have been committing political suicide if he entertained these proceedings.

Input from the gay people who had traveled a long way was limited to impassioned pleas for acceptance. The Christians heard them, the pain was evident, but healthy lifestyles, happy children and the union of marriage between a man and a woman as representative of God and His Church are also an important matter. Calls to “respect our choices” were at variance with the “It’s not an attitude, it’s the way I am” slogans on a vehicle outside.

The speaker queried the presence of one pro gay marriage person whose submission had evidently been heard in Soweto Gauteng Provincial hearings.

A woman rose to present the highly publicized case of a lesbian couple that had severely abused a child who had refused to address one of his custodians as Father. A follow up submission was presented by a frenzied woman who declared that lesbians will make better mothers. Showing a lack of control, that surely would not be conducive to good motherhood, she said “Give us the children and we will be better mothers, just give us the children, just give us children” Unrecorded comments in the crowd were translated as “No because you are ugly” and “But you will not make better fathers”

Michael Cassidy was there with his team as well as a good sprinkling of ACDP stalwarts from the area including Guy Solomon, Richard Savage and my stalwart friend Rev. Mfano Ndlovu. Mike Atkins took copious notes and his analysis was as well reasoned as usual and you may expect a separate document from him. I was reassured that our fellow members who were present made frank and honest statements from their personal viewpoint and this chairman did not need to intervene. I think that we came away with the impression that in the heartland of the nation, where people are trying to change the quality of their lifestyles without changing the wonderful character, the same sex message is not finding tenure. Family life is regaining prominence.

For the good people of the Zulu heartland, as in other areas, the options that are presented in the bill for registered domestic partnerships and non-registered domestic partnerships are what really represent a second class marriage to them. A father who respects the integrity of his daughter would not allow her to be trapped within the framework of the proposed system which offers them no security, and strangely hands custody of any offspring to the male parent …….. and thus gets into legal confusion with regard to the situation of same sex couples who somehow manage to have a child together. An upstanding father would likewise not be proud of a son who divested himself of his responsibilities by entering into one of these second class marriages.

I do not think that they are keen on the concept that a priest may refuse to bless a strange union, but only if he gets permission from a government minister first. (Assuming that he will have the secretariat to do this) There is a lot of “but if” and “notwithstanding” in this bill.

There was a great fashion show outside and the hearings were a great social event for the gays who retired to the verandah area for a more consensual debate among themselves, raising the tone of their voices when this 50 year old veteran of 25 years of marriage to an extremely loyal woman walked by. It seems that in rearing and fathering three natural children and one adoptive child I have earned the contempt being called a “Breeder” I guess that the young men had not really listened to the substance of the debate inside.

They are a forgiving people, the people of The Beloved Country, they forgave me for being part of an oppressive white system and they will forgive gay people for their problems, but they are clearly not willing to see their re-emergent society tinkered with. The fast tracking of the hearings and the hastily concocted laws means that things are moving a little too fast for them, as well as the rest of the nation. They just do not see it as a “Better life for all”

Oh and the Lunch of traditional Zulu steamed fresh chicken served by a local family of Zulu matrons was really enjoyed by one who hates the bland tasting battery reared fare of the city - Ngiyabonga Khakhulu.