Durban - Zonke Ndaba* was just 19 years old when she was coerced into sterilisation because she was HIV positive, robbing her of the choice to have more children.
“I was about to give birth, but when the doctor flipped through my chart, he saw that I was HIV positive and ordered a C-section. I was made to sign forms while in labour, but among the forms was one for consent to cut my tubes,” said Ndaba.
She was at a meeting in Durban on Wednesday with 38 other women who had endured a similar ordeal of forced or coerced sterilisation at public and private hospitals because of their HIV status - the latest case just last year. The meeting was organised by Her Rights Initiative, founded by activist Sethembiso Mthembu, who herself was forcibly sterilised in 1997.
Mthembu said the purpose was to update the women on a Commission of Gender Equity (CGE) complaint lodged in March.
With the International Community of Women SA, support-ed by Oxfam and the Women’s Legal Centre, they were also suing the KZN department of health for damages arising out of two cases of forced or coerced sterilisation.
Centre attorney Jody-Lee Fredericks said they had lodged papers with a high court in KZN last month, but would not disclose details to protect the identity of the complainants.
“To have your reproductive rights taken away is a gross violation. On paper, the constitution, the law, even department of health policy and regulations are clear on how consent should be obtained, and that the consequences of sterilisation should be properly explained. So we don’t know why healthcare workers continue to take advantage of women when they are most vulnerable. All we know is it happens to black, disadvantaged and HIV-positive women,” said Fredericks.
Now 27, Ndaba said she suffered a doubled stigma, being HIV positive and being inyumba (barren).
“A woman’s identity, especially in our culture, is very much tied to being able to bear children. That doctor took my future into his hands and made a cut that will last forever,” she said.
*Not her real name
Daily News