Simon tseko nkoli: africa sings for you.

At a time rife with activism on every social media site and on every major and minor road, I seek to show you what the words, sweat and pain can be able to deliver for yourself and the future. The life and accomplishments of Simon Nkoli are the hallmarks of what every activist wants to achieve. His efforts led to the recognition and enforcement of LGBTQ+ rights in the South African Constitution. With such a legacy, there is no greater activist to look up to and there is no greater person to inspire us than him.

Simon Nkoli was bord in apartheid South Africa to a family of squatters. His difficult life began then as his family status necessitated them to be constantly running from the long arm of unlawful law enforcement. His parents’ separation landed him in the hands of his grandparents in Orange Free State who worked for white landlord. With the only available path leading him to becoming a farmer under the same white landlord, he chose to run to Johannesburg and seek out a different path, education his only respite.

His life of activism began at an early age. As a gay black South African, there were a multitude of things to stand against. His journey began opposing the apartheid system. In Johannesburg, he attended a secretarial college and joined the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) in 1980 and gained the position of the secretary of the Transvaal division (a province in apartheid South Africa). He embraced his sexual orientation openly, a fact of which he disclosed to COSAS. Despite knowing this and despite the homophobia he faced from the organization’s members, he was reinstated to his position in 1981.

His LGBTQ+ activism began when he joined Gay Association of South Africa (GASA), an organization that was predominantly white and apolitical to the apartheid state of the nation. His aim was to make GASA more accessible to gay black South Africans. The Saturday Group was the product of his efforts, the first gay black group in Africa.

His fight against the apartheid regime saw him and 21 others arrested in 1984. Nkoli spent 9 months imprisoned with no trial. After the 9 months, false charges of terrorism, treason, and murder were levied against him and the 21 others. The trial against the 22 became known as Delmas Treason Trial. His sexuality was a factor that almost made his fellow defendants seek to be tried separately from him, however, reason prevailed and they agreed to a combined trial. The GASA members who were his alibi, refused to corroborate his whereabouts. While the home organization refused to help him, his popularity transcended the South African borders and attracted attention from various organizations outside Africa.

Simon Nkoli was acquitted and released in 1988 and it was at this stage he began his most influential activism for the LGBTQ+ community. His drive to seek rights and freedoms for LGBTQ+ people was a product of his sexual orientation and his AIDS diagnosis. He sought to educate black South Africans on the spread and control of HIV/AIDS as educational resources were not provided for the black South Africans.

He founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW), an organization that was non-racial and town-based. In 1889, Nkoli travelled to 26 North American and European states, and managed to raise enough financial resources to support the Townships AIDS Project which provided HIV education to various towns. To add to his achievements, in 1990, together with Beverley Palesa Ditsie, he organized the first pride parade in South Africa.

His crowning moment came in 1994 when he co-founded the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE). He represented the organization together with Ian Mckellan in the 1995 talks with President Nelson Mandela ensuring that gay and lesbian rights were considered by ANC. In 1996, South Africa became the first country in the world to prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian people in their constitution.

Nkoli’s death came at the age of 41 due to AIDS-related complications but his legacy lives on to this very day. His courage and determination should serve as a beacon to the multitudes seeking to stand for something. For our community, he is a hero that should never be forgotten. For us in a different country, his story invigorates our spirits.