In photos: Africa Day 2025 in Johannesburg

28 May 2025

A street parade for the people, by the people. Photo: Alastair McLachlan.

An Africa Cause Meal by Exotically Divine Pulse. Photo: Caroline Suzman.

Hey Hillbrow! Let's Dlala! 2025. Photo: Alastair McLachlan.

For the Africa Day 2025 weekend (Africa Day is celebrated annually on May 25), we joined communities across the city in a celebration of cultural diversity that was generous, creative, truly inclusive, and transcended boundaries. Officially, Africa Day marks the formation of the Organisation for African Unity (May 25, 1963).

Hey Hillbrow! Let's Dlala! street parade

Hey Hillbrow! Let's Dlala! is an annual parade that first took place in 2016. Photo: Alastair McLachlan.

Our weekend started in Hillbrow on Sat, May 24, 2025 for the Hey Hillbrow! Let's Dlala! festival, a rich celebration of culture on the streets of Joburg's most densely populated high-rise neighbourhood. Song, dance, performance, acrobatics, and a marching band were just some of the elements brought together to create a day of enjoyment for hundreds of children and adults in the neighbourhood. It was incredible to see children on what are the harsh streets of Hillbrow, simply being children. So much laughter, joy, and at times amazement.

The event is structured as a parade from Windybrow Arts Centre, and travels a loop through Hillbrow. Every few steps, the growing audience, who formed part of the parade, stopped for another performance. Curated by artists Tamzin Botha and Daniel Buckland, the 2025 parade was led by the Ezase Vaal Brass Band and featured live music and dazzling acrobatics by the performers of The Cirk.

The theme running through this year's festival was all about reclaiming. It was as much about the actual people who, with their trolleys, reclaim the city's waste for recycling, as it was about the act of reclamation. Diversity and inclusivity are not simply token words for the organisers of Hey Hillbrow!, where students from the Johannesburg Society for the Blind performed a theatre piece. On this day, those who are often overlooked or looked down upon for the work they do are celebrated as royalty. It was beautiful.

A JOYFUL CELEBRATION

Kids at play at the Hey Hillbrow! Let's Dlala! parade. Photo: Mark Straw.

The Hey Hillbrow! Let's Dlala! street parade is an annual celebration brought together by Windybrow Arts Centre, Gerard Bester, Shade Brixton, KWASHA! Theatre Company, and the Market Theatre. It has played a central role in local Africa Day celebrations since 2016 (with a few breaks during the Covid pandemic) and it unites one of Joburg's most maligned neighbourhoods in a day of costumes, dancing, music, and fun.

Even though Hillbrow is a tough and feared place, Joburg's first high-rise residential district now has a rich mix of Pan-African culture, which makes it worthy of celebration. And while the space often feels anything but playful, Hey Hillbrow! Let's Dlala! brings joy to the streets and smiles to the faces of the people living there.

"I think creativity and imagination are vital," says Bester. "If we don’t imagine ourselves in places that take us by surprise, then there’s no hope. And so the arts give us that. The arts give us the way to imagine ourselves beyond where we find ourselves, and I think that’s why we do what we do."

African Cause Meal at Bekezela

"People who eat together stay together" is the motto at Exotically Divine Pulse. Photo: Caroline Suzman.

On Sun, May 25, 2025 across the city and under the bridges in Newtown, we joined Exotically Divine Pulse and friends to feed the people of the Bekezela informal settlement. This settlement started sometime after 2010 and has grown from nine people to more than 600, many of whom are reclaimers who need to be near the recycling depots. With a shortage of affordable accommodation, Bekezela has become a hive of activity in a series of what seem to be abandoned buildings that were once part of the railways. Today, Bekezela has a formal structure with a committee that runs the settlement and a crèche. Services are scant, however, volunteers and an incredible partnership with Mimosa School have seen the addition of solar lights, as well as charging stations for cellphones.

PEOPLE WHO EAT TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER

Exotically Divine Pulse is a non-profit organisation that prioritises healthy living. Photo: Caroline Suzman.

Located in Drill Hall in Hillbrow, Exotically Divine Pulse is a non-profit organisation that promotes wellness and healthy living through gardening, African cuisine, and waste art. Their 'African Cause Meal' is one of the programmes they use to initiate conversations about healthy eating and mindfulness when it comes to food. Part of this programme means visiting communities, cooking plant-based meals together, and sharing healthy cuisine, because, as they say at Exotically Divine Pulse, "people who eat together stay together".

As part of their Africa Day celebrations, they cooked healthy food with the community, brought together volunteers and locals, and served an estimated 600 people at Bekezela informal settlement. By blending soulful cuisine with radical community care, they honoured the people of Joburg and celebrated the continent through that most precious of cultural elements: food. Our thanks go out to all who donated fresh produce for Exotically Divine Pulse's cooking, including generous contributions from SA Harvest and SPAR Parkview.

The Africa Day weekend in Joburg this year was a day on which those who have so little gave so much. See some more of our highlights, in photos, below.