LGBTQ+ Pietermaritzburg: Uthingo, Heritage & the Midlands

Pietermaritzburg has one of KwaZulu-Natal’s strongest year-round LGBTQ+ community anchors in Uthingo Network. Based in Scottsville, the organisation works on LGBTQI+ human rights, community outreach, psychosocial support, health services, skills development, safer spaces and institutional inclusion. The city also played a visible part in the 2026 Pride Month programme when eThekwini Pride formally launched with a flag-raising outside Uthingo Network’s Pietermaritzburg office on 1 June. That was a provincial Pride launch event, not a separate Pietermaritzburg Pride parade, and it is described accordingly. Beyond LGBTQ+ community infrastructure, Pietermaritzburg is the KwaZulu-Natal capital with significant heritage sites, the Tatham Art Gallery, the historic railway station associated with Mahatma Gandhi and easy access towards the Midlands and Midmar Dam.