Simphiwe Dana Reveals She is Marrying a Woman
In a succinct tweet expressing joy and reluctance to share the news, the revered African songstress, Simphiwe Dana shares that she is marrying a woman and could not be happier.
Simphiwe has thus far kept mum about her relationship status and her partners since the very public relationship she had with her American beau Hessel Pole. The couple was so smitten with each other they even did a True Love cover story together.
It is 2020 so no questions need to be asked about the singer’s sexuality, but her worry that Africa will block her is a valid and truthful fear. We live in a country and continent that battles with patriarchy and femicide, a lot of the African states are incredibly homophobic and misogynist.
In Somalia, Mauritania, and Northern Nigeria, homosexuality is punishable by death. In Uganda, Tanzania and Sierra Leone offenders can receive life imprisonment for homosexual acts.
By virtue of this, Dana’s movements have been restricted, even in theory extensively. What this will mean for the singer who has been celebrated for how vocal she is on African issues, only time will tell.
Just two days ago, tweeps were walking down memory lane sharing their fondest moments with the late Brenda Fassie, a woman also known to have dated both men and women. In a tweet, respected publicist Marang Setshwaelo shared:
“My fave Brenda Fassie memory-bumped into her on my 27th birthday. She told me & my girls that we were beautiful, gave us R100 each and told us to never to take boys seriously, they were just for fun. Her man stood there grinning throughout.”
Bhoza Mphela, manager to celebrated DJ Ganyani, shared how Brenda once said to her “wena one day sizojola”.
Brenda Fassie was eccentric and it was one of the things that people loved about her, that being queer, would be a thing expected and overlooked. In this progressive century, how will society react to Dana’s announcement? Should she care?
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