Cape Town: The City of Cape Town hosted representatives from various minstrel groups at the historic City Hall in a collaborative engagement that aims at supporting role-players involved in Minstrel groups, Christmas bands, and Malay Choirs. The well attended engagement with these key City partners comes ahead of a busy festive season of cultural events.
During the ongoing session, the City of Cape Town officials outlined its events bylaw processes and proposals on venue booking processes in order to ensure that all participants are best equipped for the season ahead. The festive season is the busiest time of the year for events and requires paid up and confirmed venue bookings and permit applications to be completed timeously and in line with existing legislation.
Reportedly, the SAPS have further applied a medium-risk SASREA rating to all Minstrel events, which limits the number of suitable public or private venues. The supportive approach from the City of Cape Town to the culturally unique Klopse competitions is the basis for the consultations. It aims at ensuring that these groups have clear and agreed guidelines in place for the booking processes that are actually applicable.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Services and Health – Councillor Francine Higham stated that they recognise the important role that the recreation facilities play in hosting cultural and community events. The responsibility is to balance these competing demands fairly and effectively so that the facilities can serve a wide range of community needs.
They recognise there is room to improve and streamline the venue booking processes. They have also shared some of the proposed improvements that they will be applying and are committed to working towards a system that is clearer, more efficient and easier for event organisers to navigate.
This past festive season saw a robust and successful schedule of Klopse competitions throughout the summer, which the City of Cape Town backed with the largest portion of its overall events budget that is going to support Klopse events. Tweede Nuwe Jaar was elevated to new heights, including a first ever live TV broadcast, with approx. 25,000 spectators at DHL Stadium and many tens of thousands viewed the free street parade by over 20,000 performers.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith stated that this proves what is possible and is looking ahead, as they want to provide greater certainty and stability for organisers. They owe it to the supporters of these events, to the participants and the hours of practise and toil they put into their preparations and to the cultural history.
According to Alderman Smith, they are the joint custodians and are ensuring that these events are safe, professional, apolitical and that they are able to attract corporate sponsorships, which are the lifeblood of any event, that ensure their viability and sustainability for years to come.