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10 – 13 December 2008
Cape Town, South Africa
 Whilst South Africa enshrines one of the most progressive constitutions in the world when it comes to the rights of the most marginalised people, transgender people throughout the continent including South Africa are faced daily with huge challenges.
Gender DynamiX and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) announced with excitement the completion of the very first  Gender identity Strategic Workshop for trans identifying people from 9 East and Southern African countries Burundi, Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. “This long overdue meeting forms an integral part of trans history on our continent and a corner stone for our future work.” says Liesl Theron, Director of Gender DynamiX.
The group was welcomed with a cocktail function at the new offices IGLHRC are using in Cape Town. Cary Alan Johnson, Director for Africa and Liesl Theron, Director of Gender DynamiX welcomed everyone and shared the vision and long awaited ideals for this workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to recognise and monitor the very specific needs transgender people on the African continent are challenged with, drawing lessons from the participants to inform the trans struggle across East and Southern Africa and to begin the process of documenting human rights violations against trans people in Africa.
A transgender person himself, Victor Mukasa, IGLHRC’s Program Associate for the East, Central and Horn of Africa and also board member at Gender DynamiX said, “Transgender issues have been in the dark for so long. I am glad that trans Africans are speaking out now and bringing into light the various human rights violations that they face daily. They are now visible and real and so are their issues which need to be addressed immediately.”
The African transgender voice has been very minimal with only one transgender organization on the whole continent, Gender DynamiX, which has played the role of encouraging the emergence of trans activists in different countries. African transgender activists vowed to join hands to build the movement and to fight all forms of oppression directed toward transgender people in Africa. Skipper Mogapi, Trans Alternate at the Trans Secretariat of ILGA said, “This was a dream come true, seeing trans people together in their space raising their concerns without being intimidated. We know what the issues are and can now deal with them.”
The participants made a commitment to strengthen their new network and to encourage their counterparts in other parts of Africa to do the same. This was the beginning of the defining and building of the African Transgender movement by African transgender people. The participants selected to African Trans Network representatives who will ensure participation and ongoing work in the region.
For a long time, the LGBTI movement in Africa was confined to representation and address of LGB needs and rights. For many trans people it was just too complex to engage in the exploration and exercise of their gender identities. Lack of appropriate incorporation of transgender people into the LGBTI struggle and active recognition of their contribution caused disparities in information exchange and experience sharing, leaving many activists frustrated. Many times LGBTI organisations grapple with practical ways to include and be fully accessible for trans people.
One of the sessions Included a roundtable dialogue where LGBTI organisations were invited to deliberate with the participants on the way forward, including T and I in their organisations. Representatives from the Intersex Organisation in South Africa (ISOSA), Triangle Project, Coalition for African Lesbians (CAL), the Forum for Empowerment of Women (FEW), Luleleki’siswe and Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) attended this session.
This was the first collaboration between IGLHRC and Gender DynamiX in the struggle in Africa to address these imbalances, experienced by trans people. To strengthen one of the objectives, of documenting human rights and transgender visibility we included three forms of documenting the complete workshop. Busiswe Kheswa from GALA video recorded the session, whilst Zanele Muholi, independent photographer and activist captured images; Gabrielle le Roux drew portraits of volunteering participants.
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