It’s a fresh month for South African geeks as Afro Geek Festival looks to make its 2025 return. The festival takes place on the heels of the Cape Town edition of Comic Con Africa 2025, at the Jabulani Safe Hall in Soweto on 24 May, and tickets are completely free. The festival enters its second year and looks to cement its place in South African geek culture as a hub for Africa-centric geek culture and creativity.

Afro Geek hits second gear

Sponsored by South Africa’s leading network provider, Vuma, and Legends Barber, Afro Geek returns for its second year in operation. The Jabulani Safe Hub is already sponsored with free fibre by Vuma, and so is a natural location for the festival. The expo will be a celebration of all things African creativity. Creators, artists, gamers, cosplayers, and fans in general can enjoy a day connecting with their community.

Co-founder Tapelo Zama says, “In the 90s, people of colour were almost invisible in these spaces. Even when geek culture became more mainstream, we were still on the margins, despite the demand and the talent. So, my business partner and I decided to build the kind of event we never saw growing up.”

Two headliners at the festival will be the showcase of Iwaju, a Lagos-based science fiction animation that is the brainchild of a collaboration between Disney+ and Kenyan animation studio Kigali, as well as Trevor Ngwenya‘s Shakar comic book series that tells the story of a fictionalised version of Shaka Zulu. We’ll continue to keep readers posted on the coming details on the festival’s other headliners and lineups.

Afro Geek takes place on Saturday, 24 May from 9:30 AM to 5 PM. Tickets for the event are available for free on Quicket.