Simon Nkoli

Simon Tseko Nkoli (26 November 1957 – 30 November 1998) was an anti-apartheid, gay rights and AIDS activist in South Africa.

Simon Tseko Nkoli
Born(1957-11-26)26 November 1957
Soweto, Union of South Africa
Died30 November 1998(1998-11-30) (aged 41)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Partner(s)Roy Shepherd

Nkoli was born in Soweto in a seSotho-speaking family. Nkoli became a youth activist against apartheid, joining the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) and with the United Democratic Front.

Activism

After joining COSAS in 1980, Nkoli became secretary for the Transvaal division of the group. Despite some resistance from within COSAS, he was allowed keep this position after his sexuality was revealed to the group due to his commitment to the position.[1] In 1983, he joined the mainly white Gay Association of South Africa (GASA). In doing this, Nkoli experienced several microaggressions that caused him and other black members to feel isolated. Oftentimes, GASA would meet in spaces where their black members were not able to be at due to Apartheid law. Nkoli also reported that white GASA members refused to talk to any of the black members if there were only one of them. Because of these instances, Nkoli sought to create a subgroup within GASA called the Saturday Group, which was the first black gay group in America. Although wanting to make the group separate from GASA, Nkoli was unable to find the funding. Instead, the Saturday Group would meet on Saturdays to discuss issues facing black gay men. Even then, GASA would complain about their assemblies.

Nkoli would continue to advocate against Apartheid laws with the UDF, or the United Dedicated Front. By doing this, Nkoli utilized the organization and rallying skills he had gathered from COSAS, GASA, and the Saturday Group to help rally protests for the UDF to advocate for the end of Apartheid segregation. Nkoli spoke at rallies in support of rent-boycotts that were Apartheid related in the Vaal townships. During this protest, thousands were killed in the streets. In 1984, Nkoli was arrested and faced the death penalty for treason with twenty-one other political leaders in the Delmas Treason Trial, including Popo Molefe and Patrick Lekota, collectively known as the Delmas 22. Upon his arrest, GASA maintained that it was "apolitical", and refused to support Nkoli's activism on race-related issues. Nkoli was ejected from GASA after his 1984 arrest and trial.[1] However, while in prison, Nkoli wrote letters to African Consitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron, speaking of the struggles he faced as a black gay man in Africa. The two formed what Nkoli would come to call a very close relationship. Additionally, Nkoli also wrote to a man in Chicago, USA, who had also been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. After he ceased to respond, however, Nkoli became worried that he had died. Nkoli also decided to come out as gay while being a prisoner. By coming out and successfully establishing a relationship with a judge, he helped change the attitude of the African National Congress to gay rights. He was acquitted and released from prison in 1988.

Nkoli immediately continued his work with founding the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) in 1988.[2] Along with LGBT activist, Beverley Palesa Ditsie, he organised the first pride parade in South Africa held in 1990.[3] He travelled widely and was given several human rights awards in Europe and North America. Additionally, Nkoli worked to advocate against anti-gay legistlation, such as anti-sodomy laws. Nkoli continuously worked to create visibilty for queer issues in Africa. Exit, A gay South African newspaper, published several articles featuring Nkoli for his activism. Nkoli also founded the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality, which furthed his movements against discriminatory legislation. 

He was a member of International Lesbian and Gay Association board, representing the African region, using his skills as an organizer and advocate to speak up for South African gay issues.

Nkoli was one of the first gay activists to meet with President Nelson Mandela in 1994. This interaction arguably brought more attention to his HIV/AIDS advocacy. Nkoli helped in the campaign for the inclusion of protection from discrimination in the Bill of Rights in the 1996 South African constitution and for the repeal of the sodomy law, which happened in May 1998 in his last months. After becoming one of the first publicly HIV-positive African gay men, he initiated the Positive African Men group based in central Johannesburg. Just like the Saturday Group, this was also the first group of its kind. Here, Nkoli created a support system for fellow HIV positive men to congregate and provide emotional and medical support and ideas. He had been infected with HIV for around 12 years, and had been seriously ill, on and off, for the last four. He died of AIDS in 1998 in Johannesburg, the day before World AIDS Day. After joining COSAS in 1980, Nkoli became secretary for the Transvaal division of the group. Despite some resistance from within COSAS, he was allowed keep this position after his sexuality was revealed to the group due to his commitment to the position.[1] In 1983, he joined the mainly white Gay Association of South Africa (GASA). In doing this, Nkoli experienced several microaggressions that caused him and other black members to feel isolated. Oftentimes, GASA would meet in spaces where their black members were not able to be at due to Apartheid law. Nkoli also reported that white GASA members refused to talk to any of the black members if there were only one of them. Because of these instances, Nkoli sought to create a subgroup within GASA called the Saturday Group, which was the first black gay group in America. Although wanting to make the group separate from GASA, Nkoli was unable to find the funding. Instead, the Saturday Group would meet on Saturdays to discuss issues facing black gay men. Even then, GASA would complain about their assemblies.

Nkoli would continue to advocate against Apartheid laws with the UDF, or the United Dedicated Front. By doing this, Nkoli utilized the organization and rallying skills he had gathered from COSAS, GASA, and the Saturday Group to help rally protests for the UDF to advocate for the end of Apartheid segregation. Nkoli spoke at rallies in support of rent-boycotts that were Apartheid related in the Vaal townships. During this protest, thousands were killed in the streets. In 1984, Nkoli was arrested and faced the death penalty for treason with twenty-one other political leaders in the Delmas Treason Trial, including Popo Molefe and Patrick Lekota, collectively known as the Delmas 22. Upon his arrest, GASA maintained that it was "apolitical", and refused to support Nkoli's activism on race-related issues. Nkoli was ejected from GASA after his 1984 arrest and trial.[1] However, while in prison, Nkoli wrote letters to African Consitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron, speaking of the struggles he faced as a black gay man in Africa. The two formed what Nkoli would come to call a very close relationship. Additionally, Nkoli also wrote to a man in Chicago, USA, who had also been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. After he ceased to respond, however, Nkoli became worried that he had died. Nkoli also decided to come out as gay while being a prisoner. By coming out and successfully establishing a relationship with a judge, he helped change the attitude of the African National Congress to gay rights. He was acquitted and released from prison in 1988.

Nkoli immediately continued his work with founding the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) in 1988.[2] Along with LGBT activist, Beverley Palesa Ditsie, he organised the first pride parade in South Africa held in 1990.[3] He travelled widely and was given several human rights awards in Europe and North America. Additionally, Nkoli worked to advocate against anti-gay legistlation, such as anti-sodomy laws. Nkoli continuously worked to create visibilty for queer issues in Africa. Exit, A gay South African newspaper, published several articles featuring Nkoli for his activism. Nkoli also founded the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality, which furthed his movements against discriminatory legislation.

Nkoli was one of the first gay activists to meet with President Nelson Mandela in 1994. This interaction arguably brought more attention to his HIV/AIDS advocacy. Nkoli helped in the campaign for the inclusion of protection from discrimination in the Bill of Rights in the 1996 South African constitution and for the repeal of the sodomy law, which happened in May 1998 in his last months. After becoming one of the first publicly HIV-positive African gay men, he initiated the Positive African Men group based in central Johannesburg. Just like the Saturday Group, this was also the first group of its kind. Here, Nkoli created a support system for fellow HIV positive men to congregate and provide emotional and medical support and ideas. He had been infected with HIV for around 12 years, and had been seriously ill, on and off, for the last four. He died of AIDS in 1998 in Johannesburg, the day before World AIDS Day.


Personal life

 
Nkoli was one of four children. Although he was born in Soweto, his parents separated early in his life. Due to Apartheid, a system of laws that segregated black and white Africans, Nkoli was sent to live with his grandparents on a farm in the Orange Free State. This plantation was owned by a white man that both of his grandparents were workers under. During his time on the plantation, Nkoli faced strict working hours and intense labor, and if the work was not up to the plantation owner’s standards, he would be beaten. Focusing on an escape, Nkoli chose to believe that education was the key to escaping and making a better life for himself. Eventually, Nkoli was successful in escaping. Fleeing back to his mother in Sebokeng[1][4] , he revealed that he was gay. His family notably struggled with this notion, as Nkoli explained in an interview that queerness was seen as a disease, and a white disease on top of that.

Feeling isolated due to his sexuality, Nkoli took up writing to a pen pal as his form of escape. His pen pal, Roy Shepard, would eventually become his long time life partner. A collection of their letters, written during Nkoli's trial and imprisonment, was published as part of the GALA Queer Archive under the title Till the Time of Trial: The Prison Letters of Simon Nkoli.[5][6] Due to his feelings of isolation, Nkoli took interest in activism, as he had the idea that he could be there for people like him who were feeling lonely, as he felt he would’ve been better off if he had that visibility.

Simon Nkoli was reported to be an incredibly soft spoken man with a good sense of humor. Nkoli once joked that he was “the most famous gay African in the world” due to his work for HIV and gay visibiltiy.


Honours

There is a Simon Nkoli Day in San Francisco. He opened the first Gay Games in New York and was made a freeman of that city by mayor David Dinkins. In 1996 Nkoli was given the Stonewall Award in the Royal Albert Hall in London. Canadian filmmaker John Greyson made a short film about Nkoli titled A Moffie Called Simon in 1987.[1] Nkoli was the subject of Robert Colman's 2003 play, "Your Loving Simon" and Beverley Ditsie's 2002 film "Simon & I".[2] John Greyson's 2009 film Fig Trees, a hybrid documentary/opera includes reference to Nkoli's activism.[3] In addition, Nkoli's account of coming out as a black gay activist in South Africa is included as a chapter in Mark Gevisser's and Edwin Cameron's Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa (1994) pages 249–257.

Quotes

 
“I am black and I am gay. I cannot separate the two parts of me into secondary or primary struggles. In South Africa, I am oppressed because I am a black man and I am oppressed because I am a gay man. So, when I fight for my freedom I must fight against both oppressions.” (Nkoli, 1950)

“I am the most famous gay African alive!” (Nkoli, n.d.)

“I looked at the way I as a person really struggled to come out, all the fight, all the [emotions] I went through, and I thought I wasn’t alone. There must be other gay people who find themself in the same situation that I am” (Nkoli, 1989)

“There were very few black members going to GASA functions, and the white men were very ignorant… but they didn’t have good communication with the [black members of GASA].” (Nkoli, 1989)


References
  1. Botha, Martin (2002), "Homosexuality and South African Cinema", Kinema (Spring 2002), archived from the original on 29 August 2006
  2. "Bev and Simon: a South African 'love story'", Radio Netherlands Archives, January 23, 2004
  3. "Canadian filmmaker John Greyson Turns Down Offer to Appear at Israeli Film Festival", Imoovizine, 11 April 2009, archived from the original on 12 July 2009

See also
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