Victims of forceful sterilisation call on president to start compensation process

Co-founder of HRI, and a victim of forced sterilisation Dr Sthembiso Mthembu, says for nearly three years government has failed to act on the recommendations of the Commission of Gender Equality’s (CGE) report which found the women were subjected to cruel, torturous, or inhuman and degrading treatment when they were sterilised because of their HIV status.

“We are not calling on the president to spearhead (this process) because we want to, he is legally obliged to do so.”

In its investigative report, the CGE identified 26 human rights violations perpetrated by the state against women in the country. The commission found that complainants were subjected to torture and degrading treatment in that they were not provided adequate information on the sterilisation procedure before their consent was obtained; complainants were not advised of alternative methods of contraception, the medical staff breached their duty of care towards the complainants, and that the consent forms produced in some of the cases were not indicative of the standard required for informed consent.

Lukhanye Sikukula, who is from the Eastern Cape, was 20 years old and married when she went to hospital because she was in labour.

Sikukula says she was told by a nurse that she is HIV positive and would have to deliver via caesarean section to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

She agreed to the procedure.

But Sikukula says she did not understand the nurse’s comment about sterilisation until the doctor came to her bedside.

“The doctor came in and said to me ‘you know about your HIV status; you people are not allowed to have kids because you are going to die and leave orphans behind’. I will never forget those words,” said an emotional Sikukula.

She says her marriage ended due to the stigma of not being able to bear children, and her ex-husband's family began questioning the paternity of her child because she was not able to have more.

Her story is similar to that Nomsa Nzimakwe from KwaZulu-Natal, who endured verbal and emotional abuse from her ex-husband and the local police when she sought help.

Nzimakwe also suffered from complications arising from the surgery for 15 years.

Mthembu explains: “Thirteen years into that pain she thought they were going to redo the operation, but they just scrapped it. Her sanitary dignity was compromised.”

Lindiwe Mahlangu says some women in the group, who are already subjected to the societal stigma of being HIV positive and infertile, now have to face the added stigma of complications such as incontinence.

“We can’t enjoy sex, we can’t hold urine because of what they have done to us. As much as we can’t afford those doctors, we are entitled to that compensation so that we can consult doctors so that as women we get that dignity of having our bodies back together,” Mahlangu said.

Mahlangu says she wants at least R1 million so she can fund her attempts at medical rehabilitation.

The committee was set up a year after the release of the CGE report, which came up with a package without consulting the victims. It also did not include financial compensation.