Zimbabwe’s vice president says government will block scholarship for LGBTQ+ people

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s influential vice president said the government will block college scholarships for LGBTQ+ young people, a move human rights groups described Friday as perpetuating homophobic practices within the African country.

The state university scholarship for 18-35 yr olds is sponsored by GALZ, a membership organization for LGBTQ+ people in Zimbabwe. The association began offering them in 2018 without incident. However, a recent online commercial encouraging applications was met with a pointy response from Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, a self-described devout Catholic and former army commander.

In a strongly worded statement on Thursday evening, Chiwenga said the scholarship was a “direct challenge” to the government’s power.

“Our schools and colleges will not accept applicants, let alone admit anyone associated with such alien, anti-life, non-African and non-Christian values ​​that are promoted and cultivated and practiced in decadent societies with which we share no moral or cultural affinities.” he stated.

GALZ has previously said that the scholarship goals to supply equal access to state universities for LGBTQ+ people, who often face ostracism from their families and have difficulty paying for higher education. He doesn’t comment on the vice president’s statements.

However, a coalition of human rights groups to which GALZ belongs said it had demonstrated that sexual and gender minorities were in danger in Zimbabwe.

“We are extremely concerned by the statement from the second highest office in the country as it shows intolerance, especially considering that advertising opens up so many opportunities for young people,” Wilbert Mandinde, program coordinator on the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, told The Associated Press.

Like many African countries, Zimbabwe has laws criminalizing homosexual activity. Sex between men is punishable by as much as a yr in prison, and the country’s structure prohibits same-sex marriage.

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Chiwenga stated that under Zimbabwe’s anti-gay laws, “any (scholarship) offers are based on the same aberrations, both unlawful and criminal, and constitute a serious and flagrant insult to our national values ​​and ethos as a Christian nation.”

He said the government “will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to enforce the country’s laws,” adding that young people “should never be tempted to trade or sell their souls for such disgusting and devilish offers.”

Zimbabwe has a history of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people. Former president Robert Mugabe, who ruled the Southern African nation for 37 years, once described them as “worse than dogs and pigs” and unworthy of rights.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took power in a 2017 Chiwenga-led coup while still a military general, has been less public about his anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. However, Chiwenga’s threat to ban the scholarship highlights the continued hostility of the authorities and sections of society, including influential religious groups, remain unchanged.

In December, Zimbabwe’s Catholic bishops, like a lot of their African counterparts, warned against Pope Francis’ declaration allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, citing “respect for the country’s law, our culture and for moral reasons.”

Zimbabwe has historically avoided public activities that would seem like an expression of approval of gays.

In 2021, gay South African celebrity Somizi Mhlongo’s planned visit to reopen a stylish restaurant in Zimbabwe was canceled after a Christian sect and members of the ruling ZANU-PF party’s youth wing vowed to block his appearance.