Nosipho Vidima is a Human Rights Activist who is a tireless supporter of women\u2019s rights, working with Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) fighting for the decriminalisation of sex work. In this Matoyana Media interview we spoke to Nosipho about what it means to be a Warrior Women in South Africa and much more.<\/p>\n
Hi Nosipho, tell us a bit about yourself? <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI come from Kwa-Zulu Natal. I am a mother to one boy on my fridge right now and I have two siblings, on my mother\u2019s side. I am an activist, so I try to find justice in an unjust world – for marginalised communities. I\u2019ve been doing that for more than seven years now – at both grassroots level and national level. Yeah that\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n You work with SWEAT? <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYes, the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce.\u00a0 We advocate for the decriminalisation of sex work. The reason why we actually focus on sex workers is because sex workers are one of the marginalised and most vulnerable communities. Because of stigma and the moral issues, most people tend to shy away from the real facts that sex workers on the streets face rapes and gender based violence and unjust arrests.<\/p>\n Sex workers are forced into sexual bribes by police officers and because of the criminal element within sex work itself; it means that they can\u2019t even report such cases. This is why we do the work that we do, so that we are available for such things, for women to come and report cases, for us to give support and just really try to find justice for them. \u00a0Even though we know that the courts are not really a place of justice – we see a lot of women just in the townships, in the world we live, who can\u2019t get justice out of court, for things like rape. \u00a0Most women are dying with protection orders.<\/p>\n What we try and do is just try to keep everybody safe – be with the person, give them support, go with them to court. Even if it means that we need to assign a human rights defender to take them from the police station, to go and do the rape test kit at the hospital or a Thuthuzela Centre, but somebody is always there with them to take them through those steps. Sometimes women will drop cases because they want to just heal and deal with the trauma that they\u2019re going through on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n What is your definition of a warrior woman?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think my modern day woman is a woman who is a go-getter, who is not afraid to speak out, who is not afraid to take action when she sees the oppression of other women. Who is able to fix another woman\u2019s crown without really speaking much. So it\u2019s about upliftment of others that are around you, liberating not just only yourself, but carrying other women with you, that\u2019s what a modern warrior woman is to me. \u201c<\/p>\n Why do you identify as a<\/strong> warrior woman?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not too sure that I am a modern day warrior woman, but I would think that if somebody was to recognise me – it would be the fact that, on a very controversial issue or topic, one of sex work, I am able to dismiss everything else in order for me to fight for justice – like I said before – in an unjust world. I do this unapologetically and it\u2019s because also I\u2019ve been there. I know what it\u2019s like to not have a voice or to be erased from society because you are doing certain kinds of work, or you identify a certain way. So I\u2019m unapologetic, that\u2019s why I\u2019d be a modern day warrior woman. I do not see any taboo – instead if it needs to be fixed, it needs to be fixed – let\u2019s not leave an elephant in the room.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with why sex workers actually get into sex work and why a lot of women do. We live in a country that\u2019s not really economically stable. You find a lot of graduates on our townships not having employment and our government is not about to change that any time soon. While these same women are also women who have children and families, so although it is limited choices that are put in front of them making that choice that I\u2019m not going to be a domestic worker, and earn R5000 per month because it is not actually going to take care of my two siblings and my four kids and my mother and my grandmother, you understand? And I guess I want society to understand that this is a decision that somebody has made in order to put food on the table. Also look at the fact that women\u2019s bodies have been policed forever \u2013 and it is time we allow women to choose what they actually do with their bodies. Whether that person is choosing a sexual orientation that is outside of the binary or outside of the norm and identify as lesbian \u2013 we should not be policing \u2013 we should allow people to practice their own existence truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Tell us about your biggest and most important battle?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI guess my biggest battle is how men treat women. I mean a small thing like catcalling could do a lot to a woman\u2019s ego; it could do a lot to a woman\u2019s self-esteem and how men treat us in the workplace, how men treat us in intellectual spaces. The mans-plain that happens, the erasure that happens even in the workspace and these intellectual spaces – that has been my biggest battle.\u201d<\/p>\n How do you deal with it? <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe push\u2026 We push for our voices to be heard, we push for our voices to not be conflated with views and perspectives that are male dominated. We push for our voices to not be erased while we actually try and change the world and while we are trying to change certain issues in our communities.<\/p>\n Sometimes it\u2019s hard, there are moments where you are like, but I could just go and live like everybody else, and do my job and come back home and not care that my neighbour is beating up her girlfriend or his wife. But there is something that is within me that doesn\u2019t want those situations and crawl into my own rock and not come out. I want to fight, I don\u2019t know why; maybe I just really do not want people to be oppressed in the world. And it could also be that fact that I\u2019ve lived in a situation where I\u2019ve been oppressed; I know what it\u2019s like.\u201d<\/p>\n What are the skills, characteristics or tools for a warrior woman?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTo be able to lead from the back – listening, the key point is actually listening because without really being able to listen you can never really do what is needed with those around you or in your work. Sometimes we think we are still leading and we\u2019ve left the people that we were trying to lead – because we are not listening. So you keep on pushing but maybe people are no longer there and maybe the course has changed. So it\u2019s listening, it\u2019s being able to feel ukuthi<\/em>, this is where we are. Whether it\u2019s politics or not – we need to feel the people, listen to them, feeling them and to also have the ability to do the hardest work that nobody wants to do. It might be hard, but it needs to be done.\u00a0 Let\u2019s put on our super hero capes and make a better world, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n Why is it important for women to see themselves as warriors? <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think with the history that we have in this country, identifying as a warrior woman or having the characteristics of a warrior woman or forging ahead to make a better world, to give better opportunities, is not only about us\u2026 It\u2019s about taking away history and the unjust oppressions that happened to our grandmothers, to our mothers. It\u2019s making sure that with my<\/em> doing now<\/em>, the next generation of women could actually have a better world. Whether you are fighting for fair pay in work, you might not realise it now, but you are not just fighting for yourself. But after you\u2019ve gone, 20 years down the line, somebody – a woman will walk into that organisation or that institution and benefit from what you\u2019ve done; this is why we need to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n What type of warrior woman would you describe yourself as and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not too sure! This is the hardest question that I can actually answer. I aspire to be a warrior woman who does not walk alone because we can never really acquire much by walking alone. I aspire to be the warrior woman who has other warrior woman with her. I don\u2019t want to just have freedom for myself only\u2013 I want to have freedom for all those I come across, freedom for those I don\u2019t even know. In a sense I would say that, not only in the fight, but also in the freedoms we might actually realise. So we\u2019re out to try to create a Utopia for women, where women can live freely, women can be seen in society. This is important because women are not seen \u2013 they are never given the same opportunities \u2013 they are raised differently from men. Let\u2019s create societies and communities that build humans.\u201d<\/p>\n What are your words of affirmation?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhatever has been told to you \u2013 that you can\u2019t do it \u2013 is a lie, we can do anything we put our minds to.\u00a0 If you already can see it as a vision, it is already there, all you have to do is put actions into it. No matter how many men try and drag you down, whether it be by rape, narcissism, how they see us \u2013 it doesn\u2019t matter. What matters is we actually have to do the work and move forward. It might take a ton of energy out of us, but it is necessary, it is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n Which women warriors do you look up to?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI want to bring this close to home, it\u2019s my mother, it\u2019s my grandmother and there are a lot of reasons for it. Both these women that I am talking about raised kids without men. On their sides they\u2019ve built lives, they\u2019ve acquired material and un-material blessings. But they\u2019ve also fought the hardest fights that I\u2019ve seen in reality close to me. My mother fought the TRC for my brother\u2019s death. It took a lot out of her, but she never backed down – up until the point where she was able to access compensation, so that she can raise my now brother actually born by my uncle. That for me is my warrior woman, I look up to her, I look up to her for never giving up, for fighting and not backing down.<\/p>\n My grandmother, oooh that woman – my grandmother got divorced and the husband left and went to go live in Durban and never looked back, leaving her with six kids. She had no education; apparently her father never gave her education because he wanted her to watch over the cows. She was still able to raise kids that became nurses, teachers, engineers – you know what I mean. She did it with very little; she says she started being a Shebeen Queen. She\u2019s very religious, but she made Umqombothi and she sold it, and out of selling the traditional African beer, she then bought beers. She keeps on saying to us,\u00a0 \u201cHey mina I\u2019ve stood in the middle of men and fought for them to get out of my house and fought them to pay me my money.\u201d \u00a0And to her it\u2019s a small thing, but in those days, being divorced, as a woman, brought shame to you. Owning a Shebeen or being a Shebeen Queen brought disgrace to you – she withstood all of those things. She dismissed everybody\u2019s views on how they saw her, in order for her to put food on the table. For her to raise her kids, to put education on her kids and I don\u2019t know what else is bigger than that.\u201d<\/p>\n