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118 S. African L.J. 642 (2001)
Constitutional Protection of Sexual Orientation and African Conceptions of Humanity

handle is hein.journals/soaf118 and id is 652 raw text is: 642 THE SOUTH AFRICAN LAW JOURNAL it existed only four years ago. How it will develop in the future is hard to tell, not least because it will depend very much on political events. But one can still see, not least in the political rhetoric which finds an echo in some areas of public opinion, a feeling that the British Parliament should indeed be sovereign and that its decisions should not be second-guessed by courts, either at home or in Europe, whether on economic matters or on matters of social policy. To some extent the strange mechanism of declarations of incompatibility which do not affect the validity of the statutory provision in question nor its effect on the parties to the dispute can be seen as reflecting the view that, whatever may have happened, the model as envisaged by Dicey still has relevance for our society today. CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION OF SEXUAL ORIENTA- TION AND AFRICAN CONCEPTIONS OF HUMANITY' EDWIN CAMERON Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa Gays and lesbians have been in the news in Southern Africa. They have been the subject of public controversy and political discussion, as well as decisions in the courts. Reports from Namibia and Zimbabwe have indicated that leaders in both countries have attacked gays and lesbians in extremely strong terms. They have severely criticized their lifestyle and their conduct. They have apparently called for their arrest, deportation, imprisonment and even their elimination.2 Recent attacks on gays and lesbians in Namibia have followed similar attacks since 1995 in Zimbabwe, where reportedly the President referred to gays and lesbians as being 'worse than dogs and pigs'.3 The attacks have elicited strong international condemnation, including by the European Parliament.4 I This lecture was delivered in Windhoek, Namibia at the joint invitation of the Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia, the National Society for Human Rights, the Rainbow Project and Sister Namibia on 29 June 2001. 2 On Namibia, see 'Nujoma in anti-gay tirade' The Namibian 26 June 2000 accessed at http://www. namibian.com.na/Netstories/2000/jiine/news/O0B8E983A.htnil (the President of Nanibia was reported to have called gays and lesbians 'idiots'who should be condemned and who 'are destroying the nation');'Round up gays, urges Nujoma' The Namibian 2 April 2001 accessed at http://vwiv.naniibian.com.na/2001/ March/neivs/OIEOADIOFA.hion; 'Madness on the loose, says Nujonoa' The Namibian 23 April 2001 accessed at http://www.naniibian.comi.na/200l/April/news/OIE89E8649.hinl (the President of Namibia was reported to have said that globalization and homosexuality are part of a new imperialist plot to undermine Nanibia); 'Gays troubled by a hostility in a country that was once their oasis' Sunday Independent (Johannes- burg) 20 May 2001; 'Gay threat in Nanubia' 134 Exit 0ohannesburg) April 2001; 'Nujoma raves against gays but faces protests for human rights' 136 ExitJune 2001. 3 President Robert Mugabe ofZimbabwe in an address to the ZANU-PF Women's League on 11 August 1995, quoted in Oliver Phillips 'Zimbabwe' in Donald James West & R Green Sociolegal Control of Homosexuality (1997) 52. 4 See Resolution B5-0264, 0274, 0282 and 0300/2001 of 4 April 2001 'Human Rights: Rights of homosexuals in Namibia' accessed at http://www.europart.eu.int/plenary/defaiiulten.htnil as well as the press release by Amnesty International of 29 March 2001 Al Index AFR 42/001/2001 News Service 58.

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