Joburg Pride addresses boycott claims and confirms Amazon is not a 2025 partner
With three days left until the annual Joburg Pride march, community divisions escalate as Joburg Pride faces boycott over Amazon sponsorship.
Image: Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA)
Pride of Africa founder Kaye Ally has issued a statement on Thursday, October 23, two days before the annual Pride march, addressing growing controversy around the event.
Ally clarified that Johannesburg Pride did not officially onboard Amazon as a partner for this year’s event. Preliminary discussions with the company, she explained, were released prematurely on a platform outside of their control before any formal agreement was finalised.
Ally also noted that Johannesburg Pride had not been allowed to respond to the open letter before it went public.
“As an organisation committed to transparency, accountability, and meaningful engagement, we believe open dialogue should always precede public statements of this nature,” the statement read.
Ally added that the organisation remains focused on creating a safe, inclusive, and affirming space for the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies, built on truth, respect, as well as collaboration.
This year’s Joburg Pride marks 36 years of solidarity and is set for Saturday, October 25. The event is one of the largest LGBTQIA+ advocacy gatherings in Africa, promoting empowerment, visibility, and community.
The controversy started after an open letter circulated, accusing the event of betraying its activist roots and prioritising corporate partnerships over genuine community representation.
The open letter to Joburg Pride and the queer people of South Africa.
Image: X/@bevditsie
Signed by organisers under the name “NoGoBurg Pride” and endorsed by various queer groups, the letter also recalled the 2012 clash between the “One in Nine” campaign and Joburg Pride organisers, when activists were denied a moment of silence for murdered Black lesbians and transgender people.
The letter urged queer South Africans to reject what it called the “corporatisation of Pride”, wear black to protest, donate to mutual aid funds, and attend alternative Pride gatherings.
It also called for solidarity with global struggles, including Palestine, Sudan, and Congo, stating, “Pride is meant to be a protest, not a branding exercise.”
LGBTQIA+ activist Beverly Palesa “Bev” Ditsie, who is a founder of “House of Ditsie” and one of the key organisers of the first Johannesburg Pride in 1990 alongside the late activist Simon Nkoli, has weighed in on the discussion on X.
Ditsie posted that “House Of Ditsie” endorses the shared letter wholeheartedly and offered an alternative pride celebration, inviting the public to attend the “Nostalgia Pride Picnic” held by her organisation at Zoo Lake this Saturday.
“So you want to celebrate Pride, but you really don’t want to support capitalism and genocide? Woza nabangani bakho (come with your friends),” she wrote.
The public also shared their views about this year’s Pride march.
X user @scouserscuderia commented: “I really do believe that JHBPride's commercialisation erases the struggles of queer South Africans and exploits the actual social cause for financial gain.”
Another user @enbyfatale said: “This pride (especially South African pride, given our history) has ALWAYS been political. Depoliticising pride is capitalist, disrespectful to the pioneers of queer liberation in South Africa, and ultimately, homophobic.”
While @Karabokgoleng commented: “Joburg Pride is very white supreme. My kid didn't understand why I wouldn't participate in the Melrose Arch one. Not all queer spaces are safe. Eish.”