Fridae

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga (right) on the
front page of The Nation newspaper on Dec 28, 2009.
Caption reads: "Steven and his 'bride' Tiwonge during
their chinhowswe [engagement ceremony]"

Gender DynamiX, which describes itself as the "first African based organisation solely focussing on the transgender community," issued a statement on May 20, 2010:

Today activists the world over protested the conviction of two gay men in Malawi. Even though activists from many different political persuasions joined hands in a protest in Cape Town today, local transgender activists are highlighting the fact that Tiwonge Chimbalanga clearly expresses a female identity. 

According to Ian Swartz from OSISA (Open Society Institute of Southern Africa) Tiwonge Chimbalanga sees herself as a woman. “Tiwonge so clearly identifies as a woman and she has expressed her identity as such more often than not. I think if she knew the word Transgender she would come home to a world of understanding of herself” he said recently after visiting the couple in prison. A local activist who calls her “Aunty Tiwo” visited her too and to him she said: “I am just a woman who loves my man. I’d rather remain in prison than to be released into a world where I am kept away from Steven”

“Advocating for Transgender peoples rights in most African countries is problematic for us” says Robert Hamblin advocacy manager for SA Transgender organisation Gender DynamiX. “Gender variant identities are not acknowledged and just about any sexual minority is called gay or homosexual. This is because a person is assigned a gender based on their genitals, despite how they self identify.”

Gender DynamiX stood together with other activists today in a protest called by Social Justice Coalition (SJC). SJC was joined by LGBTI organisations protesting the conviction of these two people. The group of activists urged the SA government to negotiate the release of the couple and to offer them asylum in South Africa. The group also demanded that the SA government end the continued silence about human rights abuses against sexual minorities on the rest of the continent. 

Gender DynamiX condemns the conviction of Steven Mongeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga. We call on the South African government, as the only state in Africa to recognise equality for sexual minorities, to uphold the South African constitution by offering asylum to the couple.

“Even though the identities of Tiwonge and Steven are misunderstood by the world we stand together with gay and lesbian activists in their work to try and get justice for our trans sister and her partner.” says Tebogo Nkoana outreach officer at Gender DynamiX.

Natacha Kennedy writes in a column "Once again the 'T' in LGBT is silenced" in The Guardian (May 22, 2010):

Following this trend, the tragedy of the Malawian couple sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour simply for loving each other, is now framed as a "gay rights" issue. However, the appalling case of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga has demonstrated just how silent the T has been rendered - and indeed the possibility that there might also be an I (for intersex) not even considered.

“I have male genitals, but inside I am a complete woman. Maybe I cannot give birth to a child, but I menstruate every month — or most months — and I can do any household chores a woman can do.” Tiwonge Chimbalanga was quoted as saying in a Feb 13, 2010 report in The New York Times.

The article further noted: “'Menstruation through his penis' had begun by then [in his teenage years], a condition that may have some extremely rare medical cause, some experts say, but could also be the imagined claim of a gay man in a repressed society desperate to think himself a woman."

The Times also reports Tiwonge Chimbalanga to be 33 years of age, and Steven Monjeza to be 26.