THEY found Noxolo Nogwaza’s body in a drainage ditch choked with trash and high reeds. The lesbian activist had been repeatedly stabbed with broken glass, and beaten so severely with chunks of concrete that her teeth had been knocked out.

The neighbourhood where the 24-year-old mother of two was slain once was known as a haven for black gays and lesbians, but activists say her death here late last month highlights an alarming rise in homophobic violence in some of the country’s most impoverished areas.

No arrests have been made in Nogwaza’s death, one of dozens that happen each day. Authorities are also investigating whether she had been raped

In the days leading up to her funeral, friends, family and colleagues held several marches in her honour, travelling from the ditch where her body was found through the streets of the KwaThema neighbourhood in this community in Springs, Ekurhuleni.

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