JOBURG PRIDE COMMITTEE WALKS CITY ROUTE
Four committee members of one of the two groups putting on a Pride event in Johannesburg later this year have walked the parade’s new inner city route to show that it is safe.
Wearing pink branded golf shirts, Kaye Ally, Simone Heradien, Cobus Benade and Christian de Jager took to the vibrant city streets on Saturday 1 June to allay concerns about their planned route.
“We were greeted with cheers, smiles and the odd person asking us what we are doing and why we are strolling the streets of the inner city,” said de Jager, the committee’s spokesperson.
“The city is a beehive of activity that time of the afternoon, however, it is also relaxed, peaceful and not as hectic as we all expected it to be. I felt safe and relaxed.
“I feel confident that it is the right decision to go back to our roots and embrace the inner city again. This is where it started after all 24 years ago,” he added.
The march will kick off at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown on the afternoon of Saturday 28 September.
The procession will first stop at the Johannesburg Central Police Station to hand over a memorandum to the station commander, outlining the LGBTIAQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual and questioning) community’s concerns.
The marchers will next pause at the Gauteng Legislature, where organisers will request that the Office of the Premier accept the same memorandum.
The third point of protest will be on the Nelson Mandela Bridge, where organisers intend to stop the march and pay respect to members of the LGBTIAQ community who have been victims of homophobic and transphobic violence. Wreaths and candles will be placed alongside photographs of the slain at a memorial wall.
The march will return to Mary Fitzgerald Square which will be the venue for a party and entertainment that will conclude the day’s events.
The committee, which was formed in the last two months following the dissolution of the company that previously organised the event, has asserted that they are putting on the 24th Johannesburg Pride.
Another group, however, intends to host a ‘People’s Pride’ event in the city the following Saturday on 5 October.
The People’s Pride organisers say that over the last few years Johannesburg Pride has become exclusionary and unrepresentative when it comes to race and other socio-economic and political factors. The new committee, however, insists it wants to address these issues.
Johannesburg Pride is the oldest and largest LGBT Pride event on the African continent.
who gave this committee the mandate to make these decisions? who elected them? they started to have meetings in which they consulted the community and then they just stopped. they just started doing what they want and making wrong decisions. why did they choose to directly conflict with Soweto pride? why not the same date that has been for the last few years? what hippocrits – doing exactly what they accused the previous organisers.
And who do you think gave the mandate to previous committees? A handful of people in some room? The fact is that Pride has been organised by people who got off their high horses and did something – in the face of an uninterested community that prefers to bitch from the sidelines and then pitch on Pride day with the anticipation of a well-prepared event (and then proceeds to carry on bitching till the following year). We get what our community deserves. If they want democracy they actually have to take part. In the meantime I support anyone who takes positive action.
Rolando I agree 10000% with you. There is only one huge BUT that I must make and point out. One person on this new committee is precisely one of those who constantly critised the previous committee for what “unelected” refers to. It is very sad that we have such short memories because the very thing this particular woman (?) accused the previous committee of doing, she is now part of a group who is doing the exact same thing. This Pride story is a mess. Good luck to the new committee as at least they have gotten off their high horses and are doing something but call a spade a spade – It is very hypocritical isn’t it?