Simon Nkoli
Simon Tseko Nkoli was an anti-apartheid, gay rights, and AIDS activist in South Africa. Active in the Congress of South African Students, the United Democratic Front, and the Vaal Civic Association, he was imprisoned as one of the Delmas 22 in 1984. After his acquittal in 1988, he founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand and organized South Africa's first pride march. His activism influenced the African National Congress to enshrine gay rights in the South African constitution. One of the first South Africans to disclose that he was living with HIV/AIDS, Nkoli founded the Township AIDS Project to provide HIV prevention services to Black South Africans. After his death from AIDS-related complications, his colleagues established the Treatment Action Campaign which successfully lobbied the government to expand access to HIV treatment.
Early life and family
Nkoli was born on 26 November 1957 in Phiri, Soweto, to a Sotho-speaking family. He had three siblings. As a child, Nkoli had to hide his parents from the police in a cabinet because they lived in an area forbidden to them by the apartheid-era Pass laws and Group Areas Act. He recounted this experience in "Wardrobes" in the anthology Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa. After Nkoli's parents separated, he lived with his grandparents on a farm and attended primary school in Orange Free State for several years before moving in with his mother in Sebokeng in the Vaal Triangle area. Nkoli's family was working class. His mother, Elizabeth, was employed as a domestic worker and later a sales clerk, while his step-father, Elias, was a hotel chef.Nkoli met his first boyfriend, a white bus driver, by responding to a pen pal ad in a magazine. Nkoli's mother was upset when he told her about their relationship. In an attempt to change Nkoli's sexual orientation, she took him to multiple sangomas and a Christian clergyman. Lastly, she consulted a therapist who affirmed Nkoli's gay identity and encouraged him to accept himself. Nkoli later called himself "lucky" that, instead of disowning him, his mother "tried to help me, in the ways that she knew how". With time, Elizabeth accepted Nkoli's sexual orientation. She supported him throughout his life, including his many arrests and the police harassment she experienced due to his anti-apartheid activism.
Early activism
Anti-apartheid activism
Nkoli first became involved in activism in high school, organizing students and spearheading a campaign opposing Afrikaans as his school's language of instruction during the 1976 Soweto Uprising. During the uprising, he was arrested for the first time. Nkoli was active in several groups including Young Christian Students, Young Christian Workers, and Vaal Youth Crusade.While attending secretarial college in Johannesburg, Nkoli joined the Congress of South African Students, an anti-apartheid group. He became secretary for its Vaal Triangle branch while his friend Gcina Malindi served as chair. At the time, the Vaal Triangle branch primarily organized around student concerns and rent increases. After his colleagues in COSAS encouraged him to bring a girlfriend to their events, Nkoli came out to them as gay. The group held lengthy discussions about whether he should give up his position as secretary, with some arguing that homosexuality is "un-African". Ultimately, 80% of the group voted to support him as secretary. However, Nkoli continued to deal with homophobia from some members, and the experience affected his confidence as a leader in COSAS.
Additionally, Nkoli worked at the South African Institute of Race Relations and assisted political prisoners with the Detainees Support Committee. Affiliated with both the United Democratic Front and the then-banned African National Congress, Nkoli gave speeches and participated in marches, boycotts, and sit-ins. He was frequently detained by the police for his activism, sometimes for months at a time.
Gay activism
In 1983, Nkoli joined the Gay Association of South Africa. A mostly white organization which considered itself to be "apolitical", GASA occasionally supported apartheid politicians and released statements denouncing homophobia but did not condemn apartheid. Nkoli opposed GASA's "apolitical" stance and was unable to attend many of their events because they were held in white-only locations. Additionally, he felt that GASA tokenized their Black members, allowing them to join primarily to convince the international gay community that GASA was not racist. In an effort to create a more Black-inclusive space within GASA, Nkoli recruited new members via the City Press. They met on Saturdays— initially at the GASA office but later at members' homes in Soweto after white members complained that they were disruptive. In May 1984, Nkoli and the new members formed the Saturday Group, a GASA-affiliated organization that aimed to be a place for gay people of all races. According to Nkoli, the Saturday Group primarily provided counseling to gay Black people but also organized parties and had white members. Nkoli estimated that it had 124 members when he was arrested in September 1984, after which it disbanded.Vaal uprising
In 1983, the Vaal Civic Association was formed to organize around socio-economic issues in the Vaal Triangle area, including housing, transportation, and labor rights. It was affiliated with the UDF. Nkoli, who was active in the VCA, engaged in tenant organizing and gave speeches in support of rent strikes. On 3 September 1984, the VCA organized a general strike and march. The protest was motivated by multiple factors, including rent increases, sub-par living conditions, and Black government officials seen as collaborators. Although the organizers had intended for the protest to be nonviolent, it escalated into widespread rioting after the police shot and killed multiple people. Protesters battled the police, set fires, blocked roads, and killed several Black officials. According to Nkoli: "The police as usual intervened. They wanted the march to disperse. People became angry. Police started shooting at our people, setting dogs on them. There were police casspirs all over the place... We tried to keep control of the marchers but we couldn't. By 11 a.m. lots of people had been shot dead." The unrest, known as the Vaal uprising, spread to other areas and continued into 1986.Delmas Treason Trial
Arrest and trial
On 23 September 1984, Nkoli attended the funeral of a student activist who had been killed in the Vaal uprising. The local authorities attempted to restrict the number of attendees and the proceedings of the funeral. At the burial, they attacked the mourners, beating them with sjamboks and firing tear gas. Nkoli was one of nearly 600 people arrested that day for attending an "illegal gathering".For at least 9 months, Nkoli was held without charge, mostly in solitary confinement. The police interrogated Nkoli about his political views and sexuality, particularly about his relationships with white men. They told him that the ANC would never accept him because he was a moffie. He later recounted that the police would "bring in things like a baton and tell me to go fuck myself with it. They also said they'd put me in prison with others and get me raped."
In June 1985, Nkoli and 21 other political leaders were charged with treason, murder, terrorism, and furthering the aims of the ANC, a banned organisation. Largely related to the Vaal uprising, the charges carried a potential sentence of death, and the defendants were denied bail. The years-long Delmas Treason Trial was initially held in the small town of Delmas but later moved to the Palace of Justice in Pretoria. The Delmas 22 included Nkoli's friend Gcina Malindi as well as high-ranking anti-apartheid leaders Terror Lekota, Popo Molefe, and Moss Chikane. Most of the defendants, including Nkoli, were affiliated with the UDF. Their legal team included George Bizos, Zak Yacoob, and Caroline Heaton-Nicholls.Towards the end of 1985, the Delmas 22 were transferred to Modderbee Prison. While discussing a love letter between two male prisoners, some of Nkoli's co-defendants made homophobic comments. Nkoli responded angrily and came out as gay, sparking several weeks of debate. Fearing that Nkoli's sexual orientation would decrease their public support, some of the Delmas 22 argued that he should be tried separately, while others, including their lawyers, disagreed. Over the course of these discussions, the Delmas 22 generally became more accepting of Nkoli's sexual orientation, especially UDF leaders Terror Lekota and Moss Chikane. Ultimately, the Delmas 22 were all tried together.
As news of the trial spread, Nkoli gained supporters in Europe and North America, inspiring anti-apartheid activism, especially in the gay community. A group of Canadians, including Tim McCaskell, founded the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee in Toronto. The City of London Anti-Apartheid Group campaigned in support of Nkoli during their Non-Stop Picket of the South African Embassy. Amnesty International also publicized his case. Nkoli received correspondence from his international supporters, including more than 150 Christmas cards in 1986. Ultimately, his global support campaign and his coming out contributed to the ANC's commitment to gay rights. He later stated that his international supporters "helped the ANC to see that a human rights struggle without a gay rights dimension was unacceptable".
During the trial, Nkoli was accused of attending an illegal meeting. Nkoli came out as gay by testifying to the court that he had in fact been at a GASA event at the time. In June 1987, he was released on bail. Restricted from working, he was supported financially by SNAAC. The court decided the case in November 1988: Nkoli and ten of his co-defendants were acquitted, while the other eleven were found guilty.