Premier brings LGBTQIA+ Pride to Port Alfred
Hundreds gather for first LGBTQIA+ parade in SA to be staged by a provincial government
Three hundred people gathered in Port Alfred on Saturday for the first LGBTQIA+ Pride parade in SA organised by a provincial government.
Discrimination against diversity is proof of how destructive apartheid’s legacy remains, according to Sibonelo Ncanana, co-chair of the Eastern Cape’s provincial task team on LGBTQIA+ hate crimes, who was speaking at Jauka Hall in Nemato, Port Alfred.
“We accept that system of difference imposed on us; as South Africans we still see ourselves apart from each other,” Ncanana said.
Activists from across the Sarah Baartman, Chris Hani and Amathole districts, with large contingents from East London and Gqeberha, converged near Nemato’s main intersection on Saturday morning.
They were joined by a delegation from the German Aids Council, along with staff from the premier’s office and department of health.
NGOS including the Eastern Cape Aids Council, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, Wits Reproductive Health Institute, USAID and lovelife were represented.
Ndlambe municipality’s traffic department marshalled traffic as a group of marchers walked about 5km from Nemato’s main intersection to Jauka Hall.
Inside, numbers increased to about 400.
Ncanana quoted gay activist and anti-apartheid leader Simon
Nkoli, co-organiser of SA’S first Pride march in 1990: “I am fighting for the abolition of apartheid, and I fight for the right of freedom of sexual orientation.
“These are inextricably linked with each other; I cannot be free as a black man if I am not free as a gay man.”
Nkoli was among 22 activists arrested in September 1984 after a protest in Sebokeng, Gauteng, against rent increases.
They were tried in what became known as the Delmas Treason Trial.
Saturday’s Port Alfred Pride march also marked the birthday of Nkoli, who died of Aidsrelated illness in 1998.
Pride marches in SA have been increasingly used to advocate against LGBTQIA+ hate crimes.
By 2019, Johannesburg Pride had become Africa’s biggest Pride event. About 3,000 people took part in Joburg Pride in October.
Cape Town also has strong support for its annual event.
Port Alfred’s Pride march was organised under the Eastern Cape Aids Council and hosted by initiative Ndlambe of the Municipality premier’s office, as an making it SA’S first Pride parade officially organised by a provincial government.
The deputy director-general in the office of the premier, Welekazi Sokutu, said transformation in terms of gender diversity was a priority.
“We need to work on [challenging] gender constructs and valuing diversity,” Sokutu said.
“LGBTQIA+ rights are human rights.”
Sokutu said in 2023, Pride events and associated campaigns would be expanded to other provincial government departments and municipalities.
Lower Saxony in Germany has since 2014 partnered with the Eastern Cape in various projects.
Taking part in this inaugural event was a four-person delegation from Lower Saxony comprising members of LGBTQIA+ organisations there.
Andreas Paruszewski is also a member of the Lower Saxony Aids Council.
He described how, from small beginnings with a handful of participants, today there were Pride events in every city in Germany.
Their 2022 theme was bringing activists together, he said.
“Take the space — demand the space,” he urged.
Ndlambe mayor Khuluklwa Ncamiso opened the gathering, and shared her own journey to acceptance as the parent of a nonbinary child.
Earlier, Makhanda activist Siphosethu Pama addressed marchers about the difficulties experienced by LGBTQIA+ schoolchildren, saying there needed to be awareness and support at these institutions.
She also urged the updating of census questions to reflect gender and sexual diversity. “This does not only benefit LGBTQIA+ individuals in SA,” Pama said. “It would also set a precedent for the rest of the countries on the continent.”