Freedom Nonkululeko ‘Nox’ Mtshali

As the daughter of a preacher, Nox Mtshali found it particularly difficult to accept, at the age of 15, that she was a lesbian. She was ashamed, embarrassed and worried that she had been “attacked by demons”. She needed support and, in Sebokeng, there was very little immediately available to her. A friend advised her to check online where she found a Facebook group for Vaal Lesbians and Gays. 

It was through this initial social media group that she met a community of similar people in her area and became a founding member of the Vaal LGBTI. An organisation that was started to provide much-needed support and mobilisation to the queer community in the Vaal, Sedibeng Region of Gauteng.

“Just because I am lesbian, I shouldn’t be worried about going to a government facility. I have to be able to go to a clinic and be treated like a lesbian woman. We need the community to be able to provide for us. We saw the loopholes and we saw the need for us to get involved in the way that the community functions. We saw that a lot of people did not know about LGBTQI issues, that  they needed information about the people living around them.”

Vaal LGBTI was formed in 2013 by 8 people and formally registered in 2014. There are now only 4 full-time committee members of the organisation catering to the needs of around 400 people in the area. They use social media to support and mobilise, deal with hate crimes and monitor court proceedings, putting pressure on the legal system to represent them fairly.

They also provide workshops that deal with different aspects of life in the queer community. These workshops range from educating LGBTQIA+ groups about their legal rights and the court process to informing the community about the best ways to support others. 

As an organisation, they are currently working on a school project to deal with the high incidence of death by suicide of young LGBTQIA+ students. There is a concerning prevalence of discrimination at school between peers, which is often perpetuated through the outdated policies of the schools towards gender and identity. 

Through ActionAid, they have been able to be a part of the “Generation G” project which is a space for a variety of grassroots youth organisations to come together, support and learn from each other. 

“We are different organisations from different locations so the main objectives are that the youth of South Africa can share experiences and unite and capacitate each other and build a movement.”

Run by Sonke Gender Justice, ActionAid and Activate the project provides training on capacitation, policy, justice and austerity measures; teaching its beneficiaries how to fundraise, write proposals, and pitch to funders. There is a strong focus on austerity measures, especially as they apply to vulnerable communities making budgeting and mobilising support important aspects of the programme.

“My dream would be first, a world without any kind of discrimination in every aspect. Where everyone lives freely in holistic harmony, where they are not violated, or discriminated against for their gender, sexual orientation, size, race, religion or culture. With the work we are doing it is possible, I believe, to change one mindset at a time. With enough resources, we can reach enough minds and create a better world.“