MERCY Kumwenda, who openly declared that she is lesbian early this week, claims she has been receiving death threats on her life.

Kumwenda, who is an employee at Centre for the Development of People (Cedep), told The Sunday Times Saturday she had been threatened through anony¬mous phone calls and in social media.

"I have been receiving anonymous calls telling me that I should stop being lesbian or else I will be harmed. One of the callers said: tikufufuza mpaka tikupeze kenaka tikugwirira kuti usiye za Lesbi¬anizo (We will hunt you down and rape you if you don't stop being lesbian). On Facebook I have received a total of 700 messages threatening me to stop being a lesbian," she said.

Asked how the people could have accessed her phone number and whether she had reported the matter to police for pro¬tection, she said she suspected that some of the people were her friends.

"I suspect that some of the people, who are threatening me, know me. I think I took them by surprise with my revelation. But I am tired of living a lie and I decided to tell the truth that I am a lesbian. I haven't gone to the police because the people have been calling me on private numbers so it would be difficult for me to complain to them without a number," she said.

Human Rights activists Gift Trapence also of Cedep and Undule Mwakasungula Executive Director for Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation have since con¬demned the threats and abuse directed at the woman, saying doing so violates democratic ideals.

"Chapter IV section 20 of the Constitution condemns discrimination of persons on grounds of race, sex, language, colour, religion and indeed any other status. This incident is a reminder that there are still people out there who don't understand that in a democratic environment such as ours there is no room for discrimination based on sexual orientation. There are heterosexuals out there but no one has ever threatened them or abused them. It is therefore unfortunate that this woman is being threatened.

"This is an indication that as human rights activists we have a long way to go to educate people to change their attitudes and be more tolerant towards others. People should learn to coexist because differences among us are natural and there is nothing we can do about it apart from accepting the situation and live together," Mwakasungula said.