The Equity Model: Why Charging Foreigners More Is a Care Practice for African Festivals

When South African DJ and producer Desiree unveiled the second edition of her popular MMiNO event in Cape Town this January, she continued a quietly radical experiment in how we experience nightlife.

The event series, created and curated by Desiree, has been part of the global rise of African electronic music. In 2025, it toured cities like Johannesburg, London, Ibiza, and Nairobi before returning to Cape Town for the second time last week. Alongside a stellar lineup and the event’s signature “no-phones, no-flash, full-presence” dance floor ethos, MMiNO once again introduced something rarely seen in club culture: equity pricing.

When attendees went to purchase tickets, they found an option for international guests and a reduced rate for locals. For Desiree, the idea grew from something she’d been observing for a while.

“I was watching Afro-House become more visible globally, while the people who shaped that culture were slowly being priced out of participating in it,” she tells OkayAfrica on how the idea first came to her. “I didn’t want MMiNO Cape Town to become another space where locals only existed as labor or atmosphere. Dual pricing felt like a practical way to respond. Not a statement for the sake of it, but an adjustment based on reality.”

The Cost of Being Popular

South Africa, like much of the continent, is feeling the uneven impacts of globalization. A night out in Cape Town might attract a global mix of people, but who actually gets to be in the room matters. The city is already grappling with a rising cost of living, coupled with Cape Town’s continued popularity as a (December) travel destination. When rising costs push locals out in favor of tourists, authenticity and connection are lost.

I’ve seen it happen in my hometown of Nairobi, where spaces are shifting toward catering to visitors. So when I saw Desiree’s reasoning, it struck a nerve. 

“It’s about being intentional,” she told me. “ Culture survives through care. Pricing is just one of the places where that care becomes visible.” 

This conversation is especially urgent now as we emerge from the whirlwind of Detty December, when thousands of diasporans and tourists spent a month partying in cities like Lagos, Accra, Cape Town, and Nairobi. As OkayAfrica reported, the influx is great for business because events sell out, hotels are fully booked, and local economies receive a major boost. But on the ground, the picture isn’t always so pretty.

For example, “hyper-party entitlement” is one of the ripple effects. It’s a term I first heard from Ghanaian Koffi Iddrisu of Archive Africa in a piece by my colleague on the fallout of Detty December. The phrase explains how tourists during Detty December often treat African cities “like the city is a festival built exclusively for them, forgetting people actually live here, work here, and commute through the chaos,” Iddrissu explained. Locals are left to deal with heavy traffic and high prices.

Equity Pricing Already Exists

Desiree’s model may feel new, but the logic behind it exists in Africa across other sectors like national parks or heritage sites. In Kenya’s Maasai Mara, for example, there are three pricing tiers: citizens, East African residents, and international visitors. Even Rwanda’s famously expensive gorilla trekking offers African nationals a more accessible rate as part of an ongoing promotion.

The pricing acknowledges that these places are part of local heritage, and the people closest to them shouldn’t be priced out of experiencing what is theirs.

A similar logic has long existed in queer nightlife. Desiree points out that equity pricing is relatively common in these scenes. Crews like Joburg’s Pxssy Party and curators like Rosie Parade have consistently prioritized access by offering discounted or flexible pricing for femmes and LGBTQI+ communities. 

“If someone can’t afford to be there,” Desiree explains, “the door isn’t meant to be the barrier.” And often, it’s “less branding, more practice.”

Looked at this way, equity pricing isn’t a radical invention. It picks from models that already exist, and are becoming even more urgent now as global demand for African culture continues to grow.

What Comes Next?

I think Desiree is asking the right questions about class, access, and cultural ownership. It’s a conversation more event organizers should be willing to have. Implementing a model like this means accepting that you could make more money by flattening the pricing, and it is also more labor-intensive. But as she puts it, “those costs feel honest. They’re part of choosing alignment over convenience.”

“Organisers shape more than lineups,” she said. “They shape futures.”

Of course, an equity pricing model isn’t perfect. Who counts as “local”? Should other Africans benefit from reduced rates? How do you enforce it fairly? 

“It’s a valid point,” Desiree acknowledges when asked. “Africa isn’t monolithic. Going forward, I’m open to more nuanced, continent-aware models. Equity needs listening, not rigid rules.”

Still, the overall response has been largely positive among locals who, Desiree says, feel seen. As for international guests who paid a little more to party at MMiNO Cape Town? They understood it too, especially when the thinking was explained with care.

That explanation is simple: international visitors have the advantage of stronger currencies, mobility, and access. The higher ticket price helps balance things out without making people feel like their worth is tied to what they can afford or making foreigners feel guilty. 

But what struck Desiree even more was how emotional some of the conversations around equity pricing became. “It revealed how rarely pricing is discussed as a value system, even though it quietly shapes who belongs in a room.”

Some have even begun to ask whether this pricing model could go beyond nightlife into restaurants, galleries, and more. 

“Anywhere culture is extracted without regard for who sustains it,” she says. “Equity pricing asks a simple question: who is this accessible to, and why?”