EARLY IN 2010, a legal trial in Malawi made international news when two individuals were sentenced to fourteen years in prison for holding a traditional engagement ceremony or “chinkhoswe.” The couple were a transgender woman named Tiwonge Chimbalanga and a man named Steven Monjeza, whose act of mutual devotion was deemed an “unnatural offense” under Malawi’s highly ambiguous criminal code, by a clearly homophobic judge who declared: “I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example. We are sitting here to represent the Malawi society, which I do not believe is ready at this point in time to see its sons getting married to other sons or conducting engagement ceremonies.” The ruling was condemned by human rights groups around the world, including Amnesty International and the World Bank, to the point that President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned the two individuals a few months after their trial.
Two years after the arrest, trial, and reversal of their sentence, the debate on whether Malawi should legalize same-sex relationships took a new twist as the country’s new administration suspended all laws that have been used against people suspected to be in same-sex relationships. The new government in Lilongwe said it has opted to temporarily shelve the anti-gay laws as a way of allowing people to debate the matter freely, before parliament makes a last decision.
A little background: the Republic of Malawi is a former British colony in southeast Africa, roughly the size of Ohio with a population of about fifteen million. Malawi does not have explicitly anti-gay laws in its own legal code but uses some laws left behind by the British colonial government following independence in 1964. These laws include: Section 137A, which defines “indecent practices between females”; Section 156, which describes “indecent practices between males”; and section154, which focuses on one particular “unnatural offense” regardless of gender, specifying a prison term of seven years for “anyone who has anal intercourse with another person, or permits a male to have anal intercourse with him/her.”
The Malawi Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ralph Kasambara, announced the new government position on same-sex relationships in November 2012 through a local radio station during a live debate on the subject. In his statement, the Justice Minister said that the suspension of the specific laws will stand until Parliament makes a decision: “The idea is that if we continue arresting people based on the said laws and later such laws are found to be unconstitutional, it would be an embarrassment to government. It is better to let criminals get away rather than throw a lot of innocent people in jail.”
But the decision to suspend the laws is not likely to be the end of harassment of sexual minority groups by the church and politicians, many of whom reacted angrily to the suspension of the anti-gay laws. In their comments on the new legal situation, politicians from the old ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said the present government’s stand on same-sex marriage was reached due to pressure from its donors. They added that homosexuality is not “Malawian” and therefore Malawi should not legalize same-sex marriage. “We strongly spoke against same-sex marriages and relationships, and we want the present government to declare its position,” said Ted Msangwi of the DPP.
For its part, the Malawi Council of Churches (MCC) is urging the government not to succumb to what it describes as “ungodly” practices just to please Western donors. The chairman of the MCC, Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe, said people who practice homosexuality are abnormal and should be treated as such. Stated Bvumbwe: “It is surprising that proponents of gay marriages or relationships claim to do so to advance health or medical rights of homosexuals and thereby help reduce HIV and AIDS cases. The Church is concerned that promotion of such relations is itself promotion of AIDS transmission.” He said that churches in Malawi are wondering why the “disturbing” gay rights campaign is happening only in Malawi and not in the neighboring countries of Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Malawi is a largely Christian country, including both Roman Catholics and Protestants of various denominations, but there are also many non-Christians in the country. According to the 1998 Malawi census, about eighty percent of the population are Christians, thirteen percent Muslims, three percent adherents to indigenous religions, and four percent unaffiliated with any organized religion. Christianity was first introduced to Malawians by David Livingstone and other missionaries who worked along the shore of Lake Malawi in the late 1800’s, and it spread rapidly under British colonialism despite an initially hostile response.
The Christian churches in Malawi have always been vocal in their disapproval of any move to legalize same-sex relationships, declaring homosexuality to be a sin. On the other hand, despite the official positions taken by the dominant churches, some Christian groups have moved toward a more tolerant position. And there is some dissension on the part of individuals who are church members. One man I spoke with who identifies as a Christian remarked that the church has done little to end sexual immorality within the church itself, even though it is rampant across the country. In his own words: “To me, I feel the men of God in this country better stay quiet on this matter, which they interpret as a sin, along with other sexual immoralities which they are failing to stop. I guess they will soon ask the government to criminalize polygamy and fornication.”
Speaking at a human rights meeting, Dr. Jessie Kabwila-Kapasula, a lecturer from the University of Malawi, rejected the argument that same-sex relations are a foreign practice and said that contrary to what the church and other anti-gay agencies want to maintain, there are many same-sex relationships in Malawi. Kapasula said that her argument is based on recent research on same-sex people who are in relationships despite the fact that they have never traveled outside of Malawi. “These people have never been outside the country, and one wonders how they copied homosexuality from foreigners. This clearly shows that it has been here all along, only that the country is in denial.”
Gift Trapence, executive director of the Centre for Development of People (cedep), blamed the Malawi government for what he called “indifference” in handling the issue of gays in the country. Observed Trapence: “It’s unfortunate that the government is moving in circles on the issue of legalizing gay relationships. This issue causes worry to us, as peoples’ rights are being violated. As a result, opposition parties are taking advantage of the state’s lack of clarity to further confuse the public.”
Meanwhile, human rights groups such as the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation and the Centre for the Development of People, both of which are strong defenders of minority groups in Malawi, should be more public about their stand, and they should call upon politicians and political parties in the country to take a concrete position on the matter of GLBT rights. These civil rights organizations remain on the list of the groups most heavily harassed by politicians for defending the rights of minorities.
With the church making its voice heard, it is unlikely that the country will legalize same-sex relationships. Indeed, even following a UN report that was quite critical of past abuses, the government announced that it had “no plans to legalize homosexuality. The wishes of the people of Malawi in this regard should be respected.” Arguing that there is “no international consensus” on gay rights or same-sex marriage, it nevertheless described these rights as a “process” that takes time, thus leaving open the possibility of reform. Indeed, in the wake of the 2010 trial and the international publicity that it spawned, the suspension of the anti-gay colonial-era laws has brought some temporary relief—and Malawi is now regarded as more gay-tolerant than its African neighbors—but it did not end the de facto persecution of GLBT citizens in Malawi.
Wati Wells is a journalist who lives and works in Malawi. He is writing here under a pseudonym.
