Rainbow Pride Fest raises LGBTQI+ community awareness
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Tuesday October 18, 2022 06:00
Artists who will perform at the event include Casper the DJ, Shanti Lo, Khoisan, Ancestral Rituals, Lizibo, Raptured Roots, Ms Laura and DJ Khole.
The hosts for the day are Lebo Molax from South Africa, Feddie Pro and Gabs Diva.
Addressing the media, the managing director of Tashy’s Royal Gardens, Tshepo Keoagile, said they decided to join hands with Gaborone Pride, because they felt their objectives, aims and goals were important.
“This is Africa Pride month. Pride is celebrated everywhere in Africa where there is a deliberation. Every weekend there is a schedule for massive festivities in every town in SA and other countries. In Botswana we have not.
It is very new in the country with all the court cases and legalizing. Although we don’t have a lot of events in Botswana, on October 1, 2022 Gaborone Pride hosted a successful event at The Three Chiefs Monuments. It was a very beautiful event”, said Keoagile.
“We decided to do the closing event.
We decided to host the Rainbow Pride Fest. We have always had members of the LGTBQI+ community coming to our events and therefore we have already created a safe environment for the community in general.
We are expecting huge volumes of people to grace the event. This comes from the response we got from the activation, allies and friends who said they could not miss the event,” he said.
He explained that their garden’s capacity is 10 000 people. Speaking of the event’s setup, he said there are planning to have a big shade, since it might be very hot or rain showers. He added that jazz music would be playing in the morning till late in the day. It is expected that people will be in a more relaxed atmosphere where they can interact and get to know each other better.
As the day fades away, the atmosphere of the event would change to a groovier one. He explained that their intension was to include people of diverse characteristics, include them and give them a sense of belonging.
He said he wanted the LGBTQI+ community to feel included at the event. Keoagile added that they would be providing camping for people that would not want to drive back home at night. He promised that the event would be safe.
For her part, Gaborone Pride representative, Thandy Mabotseng said the aim of the event was to raise awareness and have a day of celebration for the LGBTQI+ community. She further explained that its aim was for the community to have nice time in a safe conducive space without fear of discrimination. Tickets are sold at P150 early bird, P200 general, P250 at the gate and P1500 for VIP ticket.