It follows the signing of an official memorandum of understanding between pride organisations and the City of Johannesburg.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Group Corporate and Shared Services, Councillor Loyiso Masuku, said the City of Johannesburg was creating a safe space for the LGBTQI+ community.

“In our endeavour to confront homophobia and discrimination experienced by the queer community, the City of Johannesburg is very clear on the stance of showing that our voice is heard but most importantly citizens of Johannesburg that belong to the queer community never feel ostracised and never feel like they are less citizens of this great city.

“We are all people with equal rights as enshrined in the constitution and the bill of rights,” said the MMC Masuku.

The Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development in the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Eunice Mgcina, said gender-based violence (GBV) had greatly impacted the country and city, and was affecting every aspect of daily lives.

“This pandemic is deeply entrenched in institutions, cultures and the LGBTQI+ community. GBV in the LGBTQI+ community is exacerbated by cultural and religious stereotypes and perpetuates negative attitudes in society,” she said.

Cllr Mgcina said the country and city must bury their heads in shame as GBV incidents were happening although our constitution was one of the first in the world to protect people from discrimination because of their sexual orientations. That was despite the fact that South Africa was the first in Africa to legalise same-sex marriages.

“Therefore as a starting point we as the city believe that more needs to be done to eradicate these crimes and this launch is one of such efforts.”

Cllr Mgcina said the City has initiated a process of developing the terms of reference for the establishment of a LGBTQI+ community committee with the intention of setting up a desk responsible for LGBTQI+ related matters. This was over and above our efforts to continue raising awareness of their vulnerability.

“The advisory committee will also advise us on which format and which direction to reciprocate the advancement for this community. We are taking this approach as a way of circumspect and not impose what we think is good for LGBTQI+ community. This is going to be an inclusive process and we are dedicated to the advancement of human rights,” she said.

Soweto Pride is a project that was initiated by the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) in 2004 with the aim of creating and making political and social space for black lesbian women to create visibility and amplify the voices of black lesbian women and to engage with community.

The Acting Director of FEW, Nomfundo Ndaba, said being heard and treated with dignity hampers our odds of success because we are sexually different and if that is the reason why we are not included then we have our work cut out for us.

“We are therefore extremely honoured to be part of this partnership. We have been waiting for this event since 1997 and this also represents the freedom in our country. It’s time for our community to stand up. Lives should not be taken because we are different, this is the beginning of a relationship and opportunity to advance in being a free social economically involved LGBTQI+ person in South Africa,” she said.

“We are excited because collectively we are going to hold hands and say there is a policy that speaks to inclusion in CoJ for our community. It speaks to how we actively engage in gender inclusion in the society. We are here use us, we are here to drive this mandate and be the change. We thank you for taking our hands and appreciating our reality.”

The MMC for Community Development, Cllr Margaret Arnolds, said as a community we need to play the dual role of raising awareness of the diversity of gender identity and reporting those who violates the rights of others.

“As already noted that South Africa has a disturbingly high rate of intimate partner violence so much so that GBV and femicide have been classified as co-pandemics along with Covid-19. Yet in our categorisation of GBV and intimate partner violence we tend to limit it to heterosexual couples. It happens in all the communities.

“Recent cases in the media as popular as they may be has given us insight into the reality that intimate partner, domestic violence and partner abuse of any kind is not limited to those who are called straight couples,” said Cllr Arnolds. In closing, MMC for Finance Cllr Matshidiso Mfikoe thanked the Soweto Pride organisers and managers for ensuring that the issues of the LGBTQI+ community are put on the agenda.

“We want to thank Soweto Pride for reaching out to the CoJ and saying let us work together. There are commitments we need to do as a community and accept them as they are a part of us,” she said.