Actress invites trouble for advocating LGBTQI+ rights

A local actress who has been championing LGBTQI+ rights using theatre is now regretting the move as she is now suffering from harassment from perceived state security agents.

The actress,Monica Tadiwa Katsiga popularly known as Nicca in theatre scene has featured in many plays which discourage the discrimination of the LGBTQI+ community.

She however,is now facing harassment from suspected state agents for her activism around this marginalised community.

A close friend of her ,who requested anonymity for fear of victimization told this publication that Nicca has been of late receiving unknown calls dissuading her to stop associating herself with the LGBTQI+ community or face the dire consequences.

“She told me the other time after performing a play around the LGBTQI+ community,she got a call from a private caller who told her that he was watching her moves and would not hesitate to stop her with whatever means.

“The caller,she said ,told her that she must not be swayed by donor money to bring ‘foreign’ behaviours,”narrated the friend.

According to the friend,what is frightening her the most is that sometimes she gets stalked by unidentified people.

“One day she was having fun at one of the popular joint in town and met one man who greeted her with her name.

“After leaving the joint late in the evening,she was surprised to find the same man sitting behind her in the kombi she was in but this time the unidentified man didn’t speak to her.He only did so when Nicca dropped off saying you got to be safe on your way home,”added the friend.

Another colleague of Nicca says apart from getting in trouble for her LGBTQI+ advocacy,the young actress was kidnapped and held hostage strong after staging an act at a show dubbed A Circus Country last year in December.

“Nicca was kidnapped by some men who were driving an SUV with no number plates and was detained incommunicado.She was questioned about her motives and when they let her go after close to 24 hours,she got traumatised and once sought psychological support but this really affected her,” revealed the colleague.
The friend said she fears Nicca could have been sexually assaulted since many women activists who have been kidnapped reported that they were subjected to sexual harrassment.In 2020 ,MDC-T legislator Joanna Mamombe together with other activists Cecilia Chimombe and Netsai Marowa were abducted and sexually assaulted.

Nicca is part of a social movement called Moonchild District openly calls for inclusive spaces that celebrate and allow self-expression of LGBTQI+ in Zimbabwe.

This publication could not get Nicca to speak as she was said to have gone into hiding and was contemplating fleeing the country.

The LGBTQI+ community in Zimbabwe faces a lot of discrimination.Last year,government ordered the banning of a scholarship that was being offered for this community by a gay right organisation,GALZ.It branded such practises as illegal and but also averse to national values.