JOBURG PRIDE RESPONDS TO RUMOURS
Following allegations and rumours on Facebook about Joburg Pride hosting an after-party this year, the organisation has clarified its position on the matter.
The furore began when a number of club owners and party promoters objected to the possibility that Joburg Pride would be organising an “official” after-party and made various allegations of impropriety.
Joburg Pride – the oldest and largest LGBT event in Africa – has not put on an after-party for a number of years, but the organisers confirmed today that it would indeed be holding a party following the traditional parade and day in the park.
It also sought to allay concerns about its motivations and plans. Most notably organisers confirmed that no board member would stand to make any monies from the official after party, insisting that any profit would go directly towards putting on future Joburg Pride events.
Joburg Pride issued the following statement:
Joburg Pride has noted the rumour-mongering and allegations made against it by certain individuals of late, specifically with regard to Joburg Pride hosting an official after-party. As such, Joburg Pride would like to make the following facts clear:
1. Joburg Pride will indeed be hosting an Official Pride After-Party this year, supported by a signed sponsor, with details to follow.
2. Joburg Pride’s mandate is to service and represent the needs of the broad sweep of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in Gauteng, not solely the interests of any particular group.
3. The after-party is intended to be an inclusive and entertaining fundraiser to ensure that Joburg Pride remains a sustainable entity going into the future.
4. The after-party tickets will be priced at a competitive rate to accommodate as many people from the community as possible.
5. While Joburg Pride has not hosted an after-party in the past three years, this was in order to focus on rehabilitating the annual Pride Parade and Day in the Park, which has now been achieved.
6. Joburg Pride has the right and obligation to use all avenues open to it to generate funds to enable it to successfully stage the annual Pride event.
7. There is no legal hindrance to Joburg Pride hosting an after-party, nor is there any limitation on it doing so under its Articles of Association (the primary legally-registered document under which it operates).
8. Despite hosting its own after-party this year, Joburg Pride will continue to list, at no charge, other reputable Pride after-parties in Gauteng in its online schedule of events.
9. Joburg Pride will also continue to accept advertising for other reputable after-parties or clubs in its printed Pride Guide, subject to its usual terms and conditions.
10. Joburg Pride is run by a not-for-profit section 21 company consisting of a board of volunteers.
11. No board member stands to financially benefit from the hosting of the official after-party – all profit generated will go towards Joburg Pride.
12. As required by law, Joburg Pride’s financials are audited every year.
13. The financials are presented to the public at Joburg Pride’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), despite this not being required by law or Joburg Pride’s Articles of Association.
14. Members of the LGBT community are urged to attend the AGM, which usually takes place in April or May and is widely advertised, to raise their concerns or to offer their assistance in putting on Joburg Pride.
Joburg Pride calls on party promoters and club owners to accept the official after-party as an additional entertainment offering during Pride, giving the LGBT community an even wider variety of options through which to celebrate its identity.
[Note: Mambaonline.com’s editor is a board remember of the Joburg Pride board.]
Furore?? Why?. I fail to understand under what grounds any club owner has to be upset about this. If they stand to lose income then that’s called competition.
As far as I understand, these very clubs have piggy-backed off of other prides in the past and made a killing. How much of those profits have gone back into building the next year’s Pride, the very thing that gave them those profits in the first place.
I think it’s a bit selfish that they object to a non-profit fund-raising event that will potentially take patrons away from their clubs. This smack of the kind of objections the taxi bosses gave when the BRT was rolled out. Are the club bosses going to do drive-by stilletto tossing anytime soon?
Agreed. I think it is disgusting that club-owners would be so selfish. They have the whole year to make money out of the gay community. Here is a not-for-profit organisation who has made Joburg Pride somethig to be Proud of again (do you remeber 5 years ago???) and they do so for us – the community and then we have pathetic money grabbing monsters who only want to make MORE money on the night of Pride – an event they do not contribute a single cent to making happen!
I can’t wait to read about the official after-party – but the mere fact that “ALL PROFITS GENERATED WILL GO TOWARDS JOBURG PRIDE” and the reason why they are having the party is “to generate funds to enable it to successfully stage the annual Pride event.” means that I will do my community duty and buy my ticket and party all night at the official party.
I hope everyone else sees how important it is and will do the same!!
Now all we need is the info?
question. what is the difference between a pride board member and a pride board consultant?
I think it is fantastic news. I believe that joburg Pride has grown exponentially in the last few years and this is the next natural step for them to take in their evolution, and I wholeheartedly congratulate and support them for that. It is about time that there is an official proper gay pride afterparty.
All the great prides in the world do this. The Sydney Mardi Gras has a HUGE afterparty in a park every year, and it is not uncommon for them to sell 50 000 tickets to the after party. Can you imagine what a trip it would be to be with 50 000 other party-goers. And this helped them to obtain fantastic entertainment at their party, the best DJ’s from around the world, and famous celebrities. This year they had David Guetta, imagine that! And all the clubs are open with their own afterparties, for alternatives.
I have always said that there should be a huge official afterparty, organised by Joburg Pride. The party vibe in the park is so great, why not just continue the party.
And let’s be honest, for the past few years the Fireman’s Ball was the biggest afterparty, but not everyone at the parade could attend it, or would attend it.
The clubs can stop their bitching, I think it is healthy competition, and perhaps if they were not “SURE” that they would get the most clubbers after pride, they would actually pull their finger out of their asses and do some proper work to create some proper parties to attract people.
Well done to the jo-burg pride organisers. Now just make sure that you do not get greedy, like the clubs with their afterparties, and ask rediculously expensive entrance fees and drink prices. Because if you do, this will be the first and last year that their will be an official afterparty.
Inclusive. This is all well and good and I applaud pride’s efforts to be self-funding. Hopefully this will be reflected in next year’s financial statements.
Two things:
Firstly, avoid using venues for the afterparty that are out of reach of many city dwellers, in particular those from Soweto: hosting pride at Zoo lake already presents many with transport issues and it would be unfortunate if this was perpetuated and worsened by holding it at a venue such as the Coca-Cola Dome.
Secondly the reporting on issues related to Pride should for preference stop showing so much bias (I have never found an organisation so difficult to volunteer for, nor so self-serving).
Transport. You need to remember that Joburg Pride made huge efforts over the past 2 years to overcome transport problems by offering busses from and to soweto, etc, so the venue should really not matter if they organise this again. Perhaps we can strike a deal at some stage with bus companies to come to the party and offer transport at a discount for Pride patrons, or get a few specially dedicated busses.
It worked well last year, if you were there, the crowd was extremely diverse, the most I have ever seen it.
I would actually also not mind to have transport organised for me on the day and night, because you can never let your hair down fully if you know you have to drive, responsible citizens that we are, hahaha
But I have to agree that I have heard from many different people that however good the Pride organisation has become, people find it frustrating to volunteer, as if they function in a silo. But even so, i am not complaining, Pride organisation has never been this good.
Don’t get me wrong, Pride’s been fab, but I do think they would prefer to keep the power for themselves. They don’t take kindly to having the status quo questioned!
Transport-wise I wouldn’t mind either, but I definitely don’t want anyone to feel excluded due to issues around access… Maybe a Newtown venue for the after party?
Venue. Why is the venue a problem, if they can get to Newtown, surely they can get to zoo lake or Randburg or anywhere else???
It is all about the organisation..