A group of queer activists organising under the banner ‘Queers Demand Homes Not Walls’ will be gathering at the Cape Town Pride march the 28th of February to protest the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) presence at the event amid the announcement of the city’s controversial R114 million security wall near Cape Town International Airport.
Critics and locals in communities along the N2 highway argue the wall has less to do with preventing crime and more to do with hiding poverty and inequality from tourists.
The N2 Wall: Security or Segregation?
Towards the end of 2025, the DA-led City of Cape Town unveiled a proposal for the N2 Edge Safety Project, a 9-kilometre-long wall along a stretch of the N2 highway.
The barrier will be built along a notorious stretch of the N2 near Cape Town International Airport, nicknamed “the hell run” – a hotspot for motorist robberies in the Western Cape. The wall has been proposed as a measure to ensure the safety of motorists, pedestrians and adjacent communities.
But critics and locals affected argue that the wall is an ineffective use of the city’s funds that does not address systemic causes of crime while further reinforcing the spatial apartheid in the Western Cape.
Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission Chris Nissen remarked in December 2025, “Spending [R114 million] on a wall is deeply misplaced. The focus should be on people, not walls. Spend money on proper housing, on education, on building neighbourhood watches and creating a visible human safety presence that engages communities — telling people what is acceptable and what is not.”
Linda Kabeni, a resident of Gugulethu which is situated along N2 told the Daily Maverick that there had been no engagement between the city and affected residents prior to the announcement of the wall.
“If the city wants to build a wall, there must be a public participation process. You don’t dictate terms. You engage the community and bring us to the table. We may have a different approach — even a different proposal — to what is currently being put forward,” Kabeni stated.
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor Siyabulela Mamkeli criticised the proposed project in a press statement, saying the wall perpetuates spatial apartheid in the Western Cape.
“The N2 wall is a continuation of this racist spatial logic – a physical barrier intended to hide poverty from tourists travelling between the Cape Town CBD and Cape Town International Airport, while leaving residents trapped in unsafe conditions with inadequate services,” he stated.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has defended the wall while admitting that it does not address the issues behind criminality in the area.
“That is outside of the scope for any one project to address all of the root causes of crime, there have to be a multiplicity of interventions in our society… [but] you can’t just ignore the symptoms and say, well, eventually these symptoms will go away in 10 years’ time or 20 years’ time when we get progress on the root causes. We have to address both now, and that is what we are doing,” Hill-Lewis told Moneyweb’s Jeremy Maggs.
Challenging the Wall at Cape Town Pride
MambaOnline spoke to Lilitha Leo LaBeija, a member of the Queers Demand Homes Not Walls organising group, about the group’s goals and demands ahead of Cape Town Pride.
“This movement is about saying that queer identity cannot be weaponised for neocolonial ends. People are visibly, physically and financially pushed out of the city, and [Cape Town] pride has become something that reflects that rather than challenges it,” LaBeija shared.
They added, “Pride marches have always been a protest against homophobia and injustice, and spatial inclusion is a part of that. That legacy demands us to not just celebrate, but also to challenge.”
The group will be marching in the Cape Town Pride march, handing out free T-shirts near the DA float prior to the march itself as well as engaging with DA members and general attendees about the N2 Edge Safety Project.
“We are hoping to create a dialogue at Pride, particularly around the data showing that the overwhelming majority of [N2] highway incidents are not crime-related and the broader question of whether R114 million is really best spent on this project,” LaBeija explained.
“We also want to have conversations about pinkwashing – having queer identity co-opted by neoliberal agents to perpetuate oppression and exclusion,” they added.
A Growing Call Against Pinkwashing
The Queers Want Homes Not Walls movement mirrors other counter-demonstrations for pride celebrations across the country, drawing attention to ‘pinkwashing’ or ‘rainbow-washing’ – governments, political parties and corporates using visible support for LGBTQ+ rights to distract from other unethical behaviour or human rights abuses.
A notable local example of such a counter-protest is the NoGoBurg Pride call to boycott Johannesburg Pride in 2025 due to its alleged sponsorship from Amazon – a company that has been categorised as a pressure target by the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement for providing technology services to the Israeli military amid the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
Several members of the Queers Demand Homes Not Walls group organised and participated in Queers for Palestine protest blocks at Cape Town Pride in previous years, according to LaBeija.
Conversations about the role of corporations and political parties at LGBTQ+ events nationwide challenge attendees to consider their role in advocating for a more just and equal country and the very purpose of Pride.
One Response
Oh Please. As a gay man, I fully understand whyt the wall is built. For Pete’s sake, people are dying!! Innocent people coming from other provinces, tourists form other countries, and local people are all victims of these THUGS!! murdering people along the N2 and other dangerous roads.
And it’s clear these so called “social justice warriors” have no clue how housing, works etc. The amount of people streaming to the Western Cape, are making it worse to keep up with housing. This is all politics and nothing else.
A bunch of Hypocrites.