‘I was forcibly sterilised’

REPORT: POOR, BLACK HIV-POSITIVE WOMEN OPERATED ON WITHOUT CONSENT

- Masoka Dube

South African HIV-positive women who are victims of forced sterilisations performed between 2007 and 2023 did not get the requisite support from government, according to a recent study conducted by the University of South Africa (Unisa).

The study found that all the more than 100 women whose uteruses were removed illegally have been negatively affected and the government did not discuss the way ahead, before or after the procedure.

The report calls for immediate legal and policy reform.

According to the study, titled Bodies at the Altar of Forced and Coerced Sterilisation, most of the affected women are from Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West.

Professor Thenjiwe Meyiwa, one of the researchers, said government needed to interact with all the affected women to discuss the future and to compensate them.