Home affairs trauma for Pretoria transgender woman

Source: Lauren Hess, News24, 19/08/2015

Pretoria - A transgender woman has told of her trauma at being
mistreated by department of home affairs officials in Centurion, who
allegedly prevented her from applying for a gender change in her ID
book on Wednesday.


Armed with the necessary medical reports, Juanita van Zyl, 36, went to
the Centurion branch an hour before it opened on Wednesday. She wanted
to apply to have her gender changed on her identity document.


However, not only was Van Zyl incorrectly referred to as "sir", even
though she presented as a woman, she was also told by an official that
her medical reports did not have a stamp from her doctor.


"The one official didn't understand [about gender change]," said Van
Zyl.


Officials then asked her four times, in front of other members of the
public, about her gender change.


What`s needed
Van Zyl was then incorrectly informed that the medical reports from
her doctors were without the supposedly necessary stamps.


"The photo shows [the doctor's] letterhead with all the information
you would usually find on the stamp. Despite me doing my best to
explain this to them, they insisted on the stamp," said Van Zyl.


The Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act of 2003 required
persons applying for gender changes on their IDs to have two medical
reports, one by the medical practitioner who applied hormone treatment
or from a surgeon who had performed the gender reassignment
surgery.


The second report must be from another medical practitioner who had
independently examined the application. Nowhere on department of home
affairs website was it stated that applicants required a stamp on
their medical reports.


"I feel like the stamp was a bullshit thing," said an anguished Van
Zyl.


Speaking to News24 by phone, a tearful Van Zyl said: "I can tell you,
when I left there, I just wanted to cry. I don't want to start crying
again now...
"When I got to my car, I broke [down]..."
Van Zyl said being asked four times "about my gender, in a room full
of people" left her taken aback. "It felt like an interrogation," she
said.




'Transpeople often mistreated'
Sibusiso Kheswa, director of Gender Dynamix, an organisation focusing
solely on the transgender community, said it had long been lobbying
home affairs to correctly implement the Alteration of Sex Description
and Sex Status Act.


"There are many incidents in which transpeople are mistreated. What
[Van Zyl] experienced is not new," Kheswa said. "This stamp is not a
requirement."


He said people were given different information from officials on any
given day. Kheswa advised transpeople making applications at home
affairs branches to document everything so if they needed to follow up
or even go to court, they had the necessary paperwork.


He also had two pieces of advice for home affairs: staff must be sent
for sensitivity training, especially in how to speak to
transpeople.



The department should also ensure
officials knew the law and implemented it correctly.


Van Zyl said, once she had worked up the energy, she would return to
home affairs to try again to have her gender changed on her ID.


"There`s so much difficulty on this journey," she said.


Attempts to contact home affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete for
comment were unsuccessful.