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01 June 2018 Photo Mamosa Makaya
Dialogue on LGBTIQ rights in the legal profession reveals slow progress
Justice Edwin Cameron, Sivuyile Mphatheni and Maralize Conradie
The Black Lawyers Association, in collaboration with the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS), held a public dialogue on the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community in the legal profession on 25 May, on the Bloemfontein Campus. On the panel were prominent activists for LGBTIQ+ rights, Justice Edwin Cameron, Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; Maralize Conradie, UFS lecturer in Mercantile Law; and Sivuyile Mphatheni, a Law student and member of the Black Lawyers Association.

Liberal but not yet free
The Constitution of South Africa is considered to be one of the most liberal and inclusive in Africa and the world by protecting the rights of same-sex partnerships pertaining to family rights; marriage and adoption. Yet despite these provisions LGBTIQ+ legal professionals still experience discrimination in the workplace. “The LGBTIQ+ community should be regarded as a demonstration of the complexity of human nature, rather than a minority group,” said Conradie. She said the shift in mind-set could allow for more open dialogue, sharing of knowledge, building of trust, and upholding the rights of minority people. Speaking on behalf of law students, Sivuyile Mphatheni said that despite the many victories, there was still a long way to go to achieving full equality for the LGBTIQ+ community.

Discrimination still holding back society
Speaking to students from all walks of life, Justice Cameron gave a breakdown of various forms of discrimination and the effects they have on the human pysche. Actions such as racism, sexism, sexual harassment, the stigma of people living with HIV/Aids, and the upholding patriarchy in society all infringe on the rights of others, causing a society that is fraught with fear, hate and pain.
  
“South Africa is one of the most progressive countries in Africa regarding human rights, including freedom of speech,” said Justice Cameron. He added that unlike in some African countries where same-sex relationships are still criminalised, the youth of South Africa have a voice. He therefore encouraged students to use it to become change agents, and to eradicate discrimination of all forms.

The Black Lawyers Association, as thought leaders, held the event as a call to action to the entire UFS community to begin to sensitise those around them to the plight of the LGBTIQ+ in the law profession and in society as a whole.

News Archive

IRSJ marks five years of championing social justice
2016-08-12

Description: IRSJ 5 year Tags: IRSJ 5 year

Members of the Advisory Board of the IRSJ,
Prof Michalinos Zembylas (Open University
of Cyprus), Prof Shirley Anne Tate (Leeds
University, England), and Prof Relebohile
Moletsane (University of KwaZulu-Natal),
listen to a speaker on the programme.
 Photo: Lihlumelo Toyana

The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ) marked its fifth anniversary with a function on 27 July 2016 in the Reitz Hall of the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). Earlier that day, the Advisory Board of the IRSJ, chaired by Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, hosted their annual meeting.

A new book was also launched, co-authored by JC van der Merwe, Deputy-Director at the IRSJ and Dionne van Reenen, researcher and PhD candidate at the IRSJ. It is entitled Transformation and Legitimation in Post-apartheid Universities: Reading Discourses from ‘Reitz’. The function featured not only reflections on the IRSJ, but a four-member panel discussion of the book and higher education in 2016.

The IRSJ came into being officially at the UFS in January 2011. Prof André Keet, Director of the IRSJ, said: “With a flexibility and trust not easily found in the higher education sector, the university management gave us the latitude and support to fashion an outfit that responds to social life within and outside the borders of the university, locally and globally.”

The IRSJ has not hesitated to be bold and
courageous in reforming ... traditional policies."

 

Prof Jansen went on to mention three things he finds appealing about the IRSJ: “Thanks to Prof Keet and his team’s vision and understanding of how important it is for students to have a space in which they can learn how to be, learn how to think, and learn how to contribute, the IRSJ has become a place where students can learn about things that they might not learn in the classroom. Second, it created, for the first time, a space where members of the LGBTIQ community could gather in one place. And third, it speaks to the intellectual life of the university, as evidenced by the research and publications produced over the past few years.”

Prof Jansen added: “The IRSJ will only be successful to the extent that we have safe spaces, courageous spaces, in which not only black students talk to themselves, but where black and white students talk together about their difficulties. If you’re entangled, you can’t get out of [that] unless you speak to the other person.”

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Prof Michalinos Zembylas of the Open University of Cyprus and member of the Advisory Board, said of the IRSJ: “The works produced by the institute in this short time have been valuable to this community and beyond, because they recognise the complexities of education, ... while pushing the boundaries of how to translate theoretical discussions into practical, everyday conditions. ... For example, the IRSJ has not hesitated to be bold and courageous in reforming some traditional policies in this university—remnants of an ambivalent past that reproduced inequality and disadvantage.

In reflecting on how the IRSJ came into being during her opening remarks, Dr Lis Lange, Vice-Rector: Academic at the UFS, said that it has always been “dedicated to transformation.” She added that it “gathered the energy and creativity of some of our most promising student leaders.” She concluded: “For me, the greatest success of the Institute, besides publications and local and international networks, is the fact that something that started in the margins is being asked today to come closer to the centre, to play a larger role in the structural transformation of the university.”

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