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Misanet.com / IPS, 4 April - After two years in which the issue had largely dropped out of the headlines, homosexuality in Zimbabwe is once again making the news. The issue resurfaced after Alum Mpofu, the chief executive officer of the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), was reportedly caught by security guards at a Harare pub over the weekend in "a compromising position with another man." The country's main newspapers have given prominent coverage to the scandal. And in the streets of the capital Harare, people have been talking about the incident. Mpofu resigned on Tuesday following the publication of the story. "He did the right thing to resign. Homosexuality is a foreign thing to Zimbabwe. It is alien to us," said one Harare worker, without waiting for Mpofu's side of the story. The Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) also has attacked Mpofu for failing to protect gay people when he was head of the ZBC. Keith Goddard, the most prominent gay activist in Zimbabwe said that Mpofu was fair game for attack. "It's unfortunate that he was caught with his pants down, so to speak," said Goddard, programmes manager of the GALZ. "I find it difficult to understand how a man who was in a position of authority could allow members of his own community to be stigmatised in such a way by the president. Surely he should have resigned," he added. President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly denounced homosexuals, describing them as "worse than pigs and dogs." Although his resignation is said to have been voluntary, Mpofu could see his dismissal coming. His boss, Jonathan Moyo, Zimbabwe's information minister, hates gays. In Zimbabwe, the life of gays and lesbians is an unhappy one. Families disown gay relatives, while some employers refuse to hire homosexuals. Homosexuality is not openly discussed in Zimbabwe, a largely conservative African country. The issue came to prominence in the media a few years ago during the high-profile trial and conviction of former Zimbabwean President, Canaan Banana, on 10 charges of sodomy and sexual assault against his bodyguard. "In the past if we knew that somebody was homosexual, like Canaan Banana, and working within the political system, we would have kept quiet," said Goddard. - Now that Alum Mpofu has resigned one has to consider the fact that within his work at ZBC he had 10 golden rules through which it was illegal to swear, or to marginalise minorities or unfortunate groups, complained Goddard. - But the president of this nation was allowed to stigmatise gays and lesbians during the [9-10 March presidential] elections, said Goddard. "He was allowed to stigmatise white people, he was allowed to make racial statements and all of this was openly broadcast on TV and radio for weeks and weeks on end." White people make up less than one percent of Zimbabwe's 14 million inhabitants. Mpofu, who is 43 and married with three children, has not commented about his sexuality. He was recruited to the ZBC from the South African Broadcasting Corporation last year.
By Lewis Machipisa, IPS
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