Funding drive for LGBTQIA+ centre

CAPE Town Pride together with OUTReach Africa hosted a market at the Sea Point Civic Centre yesterday, in an effort to raise funds for a care centre for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Funds raised will go towards the the Nkoli House Project, aimed at establishing the care centre and a home and safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Nkoli House Project is named in honour of Simon Tseko Nkoli, the late South African gay rights and anti-apartheid activist who worked with organisations to destigmatise HIV/Aids.

Diagnosed with HIV while in prison, Nkoli was one of the first black anti-apartheid activists to publicly identify as gay and disclose his HIV-positive status in the early 1990s.

The Nkoli House Project, an initiative of Cape Town Pride and OUTReach Africa, hopes to raise R1 million.

The market was used to give vendors supporting the annual Cape Town Pride Festival an opportunity to sell their goods, as events will be held virtually this year. Around 37 vendors were present, selling Pride merchandise, fresh produce, and food made by locals, among others.

Cape Town Pride Festival director Matthew van As said: “The current state (of the project) is that we are still in negotiations. We have highlighted multiple buildings that we are looking at. As soon as one becomes available, we will be taking over …”

The Nkoli House Project is also aimed at creating a care facility for senior citizens from the LGBTQIA+ community. “It is a paramount need in our community. We don't have a community centre for the LGBTQIA+ senior citizens and a care facility in South Africa as a whole,” Van As said.

“A lot of silver seniors that are in retirement have to go back into the closet because they can't access or afford private care. It is totally unacceptable for people who fought for our rights to now go back into the closet for their safety.”

To donate or find out more, contact matthew@capetownpride.org