Transgender inmate wins landmark ruling

A TRANSGENDER prisoner serving a life sentence scored a legal victory when the Equality Court ruled that she has the legal right for the State to provide her with hormonal treatment.

- ZELDA VENTER [e-mail]

Nthabiseng Mokoena had turned to court in a bid to receive gender-affirming care, in the form of hormone replacement therapy.

Mokoena approached the Equality Court in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (PEPUA), claiming that she is being subjected to harassment and discrimination at the hands of the State and particularly correctional services.

She complained that the authorities unfairly discriminated against her in not allowing her to wear her female clothes in prison and for refusing her to use cosmetics.

She also wants to be addressed as a female and for the officials to use the pronoun her/she in addressing her, and she wants to be accommodated in a single cell or a cell with inmates of the same gender identity as herself.