WeExist host benefit concert in Menlyn

Local charitable organisation Bongison hosted its first #WeExist benefit concert at a club in Menlyn recently in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

#WeExist is also a clothing brand under Bongison that seeks to raise funds to support organisations that assist queer people across the country.

The event was hosted by well-known queer media personality Mohale Motaung and featured performances from local musicians, DJs, actors and special guest appearances.

Bongison was founded in 2020 by Mfumo Pascal Mathebula, who runs the organisation with his partner, Thabang Donald Mputla, who acts as an advisor and assistant.

Mathebula said the inspiration behind the organisation comes from the desire to protect and acknowledge members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“It has been a challenge in the past years in the LGBTQIA+ community to be accepted in the normal community and many have committed suicides due to being afraid of coming out to their families, etc,” said Mathebula.

Mathebula also said some queers risk being assaulted, ridiculed and ostracised from their community should they choose to come out.

He explained the meaning behind the concert and WeExist as “mainly a reminder and celebration of some of our fallen members in the LGBTQIA+ community and victims of GBV.

“We are celebrating their lives and also creating more awareness to those that are still in denial and feel suicidal. #WeExist simply means that we are alive and just as normal as everyone else,” continued Mathebula.

Sponsors that Bongison collaborated with include 012 Gin, Boxer, PicknPay, Web Tickets, MissBronze, and Aurum.

Bongison and Aurum hosted a pop-in clinic at the Loftus branch in the past and this is the organisation’s first collaboration with 012 Gin.

The organisation hosted a colour run in Pretoria North in 2020, and colour runs in 2018-19 at Giyani Limpopo before being slowed down like many others by the Covid-19 pandemic.

With five volunteers, Mathebula said the organisation mainly struggles with funding and sponsorship for their events and appeals to any interested parties to get in contact with them to help fight issues queer people face in South Africa.

“We need to be accepted, understood, and taken seriously. We are often called names such as demons, or people think our sexuality is a phase or a lifestyle one is choosing. This initiative sends a strong message to the community at large, and the entire universe that the LQBTQI+ community exists! And everyone has a right to be alive, live their dreams without being bullied, bashed or killed,” said Mathebula.

The host of the concert, Mohale Motaung, said he is proud to have been part of the event as he believes such events help further the fight against queer discrimination.

“Being part of the concert meant being part of a movement that aims to eradicate hate crime and homophobia in SA and the rest of the world. It also meant being able to be very proud and loud about who we are without feeling judged,” said Motaung.

Bongison promises more concerts in 2023, and more LGBTQ+ visibility throughout the rest of the year in the form of activations, seminars, dialogues, gala dinners, and other events across different provinces to encourage queer South Africans to come out and embrace who they are.

“Let’s fight for what we believe in, to all those in the LGBTQI+ community. We are human beings, equal to any other. #WeExist and we matter to this world,” concluded Mathebula.

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