4.3 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2016
⏱️ 27 minutes
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In 1994 apartheid ended in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was elected president. He promised in his inauguration speech to “build a society in which all South Africans will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts ... a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” These promises were enshrined in South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution, the first in the world to outlaw all forms of discrimination.
In 1994 Motshidisi Pascalina Melamu was born, making her one of the first of the so-called ‘born free generation’. Pasca, as she was known, dreamed of becoming a politician, and studied hard at school. She loved singing, dancing and football. And girls - Pasca was a lesbian.
In December last year, Pasca’s body was found in a field. She had been beaten and mutilated. She was one of three LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex) people murdered in a six-week period last year. Hate crimes against the LGBTI community have long been a problem in South Africa, and the government has tried to tackle them. But activists say these recent crimes are just one sign that things aren’t getting better. James Fletcher travels to the townships south of Johannesburg to speak with Pasca’s family and friends, and to ask whether the government is failing LGBTI South Africans.
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0:00.0 | This is a BBC podcast. |
0:02.3 | You can get all our podcasts and our terms of use |
0:04.9 | at BBCworldservice.com slash podcasts. Honestly, I can also see that. |
0:15.0 | So everyone's dressed up, I can smell a little bit of perfume here. |
0:19.0 | Where are we off to? |
0:20.0 | We're going to a park now to enjoy yourself just to loosen up and show you a |
0:24.7 | Africa. |
0:25.7 | Hello I'm James Fletcher and for assignment this week I'll be telling you the story of these young |
0:33.9 | women and how they're fighting a battle for their rights and their lives in South |
0:38.5 | Africa. But first it's a Saturday night and we're on our way to a party. |
0:43.0 | Entertainment is our privilege. |
0:46.0 | We are entitled to entertain ourselves. |
0:50.0 | And you were making the most of that tonight? |
0:52.0 | We're making... We're making the most of that tonight? We're making most of that. |
0:53.0 | Entertainment is our privilege. |
0:58.0 | And tonight, as the sun sets over an outdoor bar in the Vale region, |
1:02.0 | just south of Johannesburg, entertainment means |
1:05.1 | singing, dancing, drinking. How is that? |
1:15.0 | It was nice, we had fun. We were chilling. |
1:20.0 | So I guess it was cool. We had fun, yeah. |
1:23.0 | So is this a typical night out for you guys or is that unusual? How does that go? |
1:27.0 | We don't trap that much. It's kind of not safe. |
... |
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