Sibongile Ndashe

Sibongile Ndashe is a South African lawyer and human rights activist. Quotes A continent that emerged from slavery, colonialism, and all of these other isms should better understand what oppression means We live in a reality where being African for some groups means discrimination against women, justified in the name of culture, and hate continues to intensify against queer people we collectively want to be free, yet we normalize subjugation; we dream of an Africa able to determine its future, free from external influences, but when you look at the current phase of attacks against queer Africans, you see right-wing groups entering the continent The idea that anything is African or un-African is a bad faith description because there are so many practices we do, that did not start from the continent, yet they are never stigmatized The only thing that often gets labeled as un-African is sexual orientation People must be respected regardless of who they are Sexuality has nothing to do with other people except the desire to control how others live. The work of stopping people from spreading hate and upholding colonial-era laws that harm is hard, but necessary Former British and French colonies still carry legacy laws: marital rape remains not criminalized, challenges around division of property persist, and consensual same-sex relations remain criminalized. Colonialism laid out the legal foundation, but misogyny and patriarchy have extended its lifeline The question is why, after independence, do we still hold onto laws that were designed to oppress us? South Africa was one of the last countries to be freed from colonialism, but across the continent we see that patriarchy has entrenched colonial frameworks African leaders think they can make a deal with imperialists, give them minerals and they will end the war. Survival mode leads to bad deals, and those deals never end in Africa's favor. The taking never stops Africa is not economically weak, we have the resources, we are just squandering them, and that is what creates the illusion of dependency What we need is to turn inward: accountable governments, freedom from corruption, institutions that actually serve African people and I mean all African people. That is the foundation. Everything else is a distraction. Tech-facilitated gender-based violence is real and it is everywhere: cyberstalking, revenge pornography, blackmail, image harvesting from dating sites, nonconsensual, explicit deepfakes Queer people are especially exposed, because when your existence [as a queer person] has to be kept secret, every leak becomes a threat to your safety, sometimes your life. People should not have to choose between living freely online and staying safe. What we need are binding legal obligations on State Parties to the African Charter and on the tech companies themselves to hold them accountable The idea that someone loses their legal protection because of sexual orientation is not sound law When courts fail to interpret correctly, the law stops making sense Activists must challenge both the bad laws and the bad interpretations, because otherwise institutions mirror member states’ bigotry instead of protecting rights. Interview: Why, after Independence, Do We Still Hold onto Laws That Were Designed to Oppress Us? 25 May 2026 we use the law as a tool for social change, to advance women’s rights issues and rights of LGBTQI people There were no cases on women’s human rights and cases that could have been about women’s human rights were not So a case about women being sentenced to lashes for wearing pants may proceed a decision without having talked about gender equality and just focused on the punishment that they received, that was cruel, inhuman and degrading We do deserve to have an organization that focuses on gender and sexuality and to be intentional about it to the point of just exclusively dealing with those two issues. They will see that slavery, for example, is wrong, and it should be attributed to the state. But they will say the sexual violence that came with slavery cannot be attributed to the state. We are not kind of naïve, I mean as feminists we’ve always known the nature of our progress that we go one step forward and then we go kind of three steps backwards and we have to fight again When we win, we win, but when we lose it really hurts One of the biggest things I think that I learned was that creating healthy boundaries for myself was important, that I’m not doing anyone a better service by doing more than what I can. there have been many times where I feel I haven’t showed up for people in ways that could have helped them because I’ve always kind of insisted in the self-care Healing work is hard. And putting in place resources to be able to hold people who are doing this work that we know induces trauma, is traumatic in very different ways with different people. It’s something that I feel we still haven’t been able to do very well The emotional cost of this work is extremely high Intergenerational kind of organizing and working is hard but when it happens it’s very beautiful I wish that for people who are starting in this profession. The ability to trust, the ability to see who is there to hold our hand and to understand what they are holding our hands for Finding Courage and Healing Trauma as We Stand for Human Rights n.d How can we be given something that is so legally flawed, and we are told not only to be thankful but to look at the glass as half full...who cares about whats in the glass or how full it is when the water is contaminated? We are flawed humans. We try to build; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. We learn where we have made mistakes, but we must always be gentle with ourselves...That's what we owe ourselves. Difference She Makes Podcast May 2026 The Constitution is really informed by what activists, including LGBT activists, went through under apartheid We live in a country that has got extremely high levels of violence against LGBT people. And I think what it teaches us is that legal and policy change that comes from courts or from parliament is not enough to bring about social change As feminists, we understand that legal change sometimes activates oppositional forces. I live in a country like South Africa where there are big disparities, whether we’re talking about income, whether we’re talking about gender. So part of it is, we are so comfortable with the disparities that exist because some people have accepted that that’s the way society functions so inequality has become normalized. So are we going to be able to distribute the resources so that everyone is equal? I don’t know, but I would hope so Feminism is much more needed today, as it was needed when the suffrage movement started The fact that my body, my person, is vulnerable at all times … I am worried about being attacked—it means that I am unequal. I’m not able to participate as a citizen in the same way that men actually participate. Equality, therefore, will have to mean that all of those barriers that do not make me feel like a full citizen are removed so that I can participate fully and enjoy all my human rights Sibongile Ndashe n.d I knew I was a feminist, but I didn’t think that my life would be defined by my work with feminism The law is not always right. Our work is to guarantee that the law is just, that it delivers justice Now that we have people in power and in the government saying such horrible things about women, about the rights of women, it is important to have a new narrative that talks about defying, being disruptive and transforming what has been put there and take back what belongs to us as women, as citizens The body is the place where all struggles are located THE BODY IS THE PLACE WHERE ALL STRUGGLES ARE LOCATED n.d sexual harassment has been in the news a lot recently in South Africa, on the rest of the continent and globally. It is not a new phenomenon, but definitely something has changed, which raises questions about whether the law can be used as a tool to fight the scourge of sexual harassment, or whether the law may well be something that has enabled sexual harassment What is becoming very clear is that, even though we are saying that these cases should be based on a power analysis, legal access actually defines who has got the power and who can exercise the power. while we say that there is a law that protects everyone, in fact, the law has really not been tested on cases where women are not as empowered When it comes to the duties of the employer, one of the problems that we have seen is that these are treated as tick box exercises. They use the code, they have policies that they have passed. But all of these things are just procedures: you cannot actually guarantee that they are going to lead to an effective investigation or that substantively they are going to be fair to the people who are going to use them How did it come about that employers feel so powerless to do anything about the workplace when they actually have to take care of the health and safety of their employees, and have to ensure that they are free from bullying and harassment of any kind? I think we need to start using these provisions where women collectively, in solidarity with each other, make disclosures. Nicolette Naylor and Sibongile Ndashe discuss local and global developments on sexual harassment and the role of the law in responding September 2018 External links Category:Lawyers from South Africa Category:Women activists from South Africa Category:Living people Category:Women in law Category:Human rights activists