Kaapse Klopse Delays and Cancelations Debacle

One cannot help but wonder if the debacle around the postponements and cancellations of Kaapse Klopse or the Cape Minstrel Carnival as it is known is the result of more than just a small misunderstanding between the City of Cape Town and the Klopse event organisers.
We had thought that finally in the 2014/2015 season we would have a situation where there is some form of harmony between the parties that would make the event a resounding success.

At first the Carnival has been been moved to 3 January and all logistics were in place. At the request of the City of Cape Town mayor and city manager the event was then postponed to Monday 5 January.
Due to many understandable reasons, the Cape Cultural and Events Carnival Committee this time around has once again postponed the event.

According to an IOL/ Cape Argus report by Natasha Bezuidenhout, Cape Minstrels’ fans, some of whom have been camping in the CBD for up to four days to secure a prime spot for the annual parade, have been left bitterly disappointed after the the Cape Cultural and Events Carnival Committee cancelled the event at the last minute on Sunday.
The Tweede Nuwejaar minstrel parade, which attracts about 60 000 spectators, had already been moved once and the latest postponement has sparked a war of words between organisers and the City of Cape Town.

Speaking on the Goodhope FM Nigel Pierce Show today, Kevin Momberg, chief executive of the Cape Cultural and Events Carnival Committee, said that most of their teams could not secure transport for Monday since Golden Arrow had no buses available because it was a normal working day.

Many of the klopse team members also have to go back to work and risk losing their jobs if they were to participate in the events on a normal working week day.

He added that the city did not support the committee.
“Initially we had logistics in place for January 3, but changed it for the city manager and mayor.
“When they changed the date to the 5th they said we shouldn’t worry because they will assist us, but they did not.”

It however isn’t simply a case of moving the date as the logistic challenges are completely different on a Monday compared to a Saturday. Logistics include fencing, parking for VIPs and space for vendors.
Moving the carnival to a week day also requires a change in the route that the marches would take.

“We are cancelling, not because we want to but because we want to improve on it and make it much better than previous years.”
“We apologise to the public and the people who already sat waiting today. There is nothing that we can do about it.”
“The parade will most likely take place on Saturday 10 – it hasn’t been confirmed yet though.”

This is highly unlikely as Saturday is also the date for the ANC’s 103rd birthday celebrations to be held at Cape Town Stadium. All police, traffic and emergency services are already geared towards the ANC event on Saturday.

Other than Saturday 10 January, no matter which other day the carnival is to be held, one of the biggest stumbling blocks in moving the carnival to a normal working day remains the availability of Golden Arrow buses.
Richard Stemmet, chairman of the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association, said it cost R3 000 to R 3500 to rent a Golden Arrow bus and R4 000 to R4500 for a private bus.
“We can’t go ahead with the march if only 10 percent have buses. We need 80 more buses.”

He claimed that they had talks with the city a week earlier but they didn’t get back to them.
The committee also claimed that the promise of help in logistics after the initial postponement from the mayor and city manager came to naught as they had to re-submit applications for all of the changes to the originally approved applications.

Mayor Patricia De Lille in a media briefing said the city had given the committee R2 million to organise the events, along with city support services valued at R1.65m, while the province gave R2.35m.

“The city has been informed via media reports that the annual minstrel parade, which was set to take place tomorrow, January 5, has been cancelled.”
“We have not been officially informed.”
“If they are blaming the city in any way for the cancellation of tomorrow’s [today, Monday] march then they are liars.”
“The agreement states that they as the newly formed committee are the event organisers and that it is their responsibility to ensure that all relevant preparations are in place for the events to take place successfully.”

De Lille added that the responsibility rested solely with the committee to ensure the events took place and the money was used to ensure it took place successfully.
“The city signed the agreement with the committee and we have kept to our end of the agreement.”

We at bruinou.com ask what would it benefit the Kaapse Klopse organisers to postpone or cancel their own event? What makes the mayor imply that they would sabotage their own event? – Editor

The committee and the klopse teams are not the only people affected by the postponements and cancellations.
Holiday makers from other provinces, international tourists and especially local fans of who many have to go back to work today have missed out on an important cultural component of their vacations.

Here is what some members of the public told Natasha Bezuidenhout in her IOL/Cape Argus report.
Desmond October, 63, who has been camping in Darling Street since 6am on Sunday, said it was unfair that they were notinformed.
“We come here every single year, since I was a toddler, this is our culture.
“Why didn’t they let people know this morning [Sunday]?
“What will tourists do who came here specially for this?”

Sonia Nicholas, 37, said she was extremely upset because they had to fork out more money to go home and return on Saturday.
“It’s like a bomb dropped on us. Nobody told us anything, we are very upset.”

Sadia Agulhas, 49, from Manenberg had been camping with her grandchildren and friends since Thursday.
“We arrived here on Thursday morning to keep our place for tomorrow [Monday]. I don’t think it’s right to cancel an event a few hours before the time. I’m doing this for my children and grandchildren.”

Rudewaan Johnson, a stallholder, said it cost him R1 200 to set up in Darling Street – money which he had now wasted. “How will I make that money up again?”

Angry members of the public marched to the steps of the City Hall to try to find answers to the sudden cancellation.

We at bruinou.com have wondered for a long time whether the City of Cape Town are annually going the extra few miles to show up the Cape Cultural and Events Carnival Committee & the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association as incompetent thus giving themselves the opportunity to take complete control of the annual event which they then can mould to economically benefit corporations more than it culturally benefits the actual communities of members of the Kaapse Klopse.

There of course are the speculations and conspiracy theories implying that anyone who follows longterm weather predictions would know that Monday 5 January, besides being a normal working week day, would have a high possibility of rain and that it would be disastrous for the success of the event. The only logical thing for the organisers would then be to move it to a day that it directly competes not only for city resources but also with attendance from fans with the ANC event.
This would mean that whichever of the two events is worse affected by the logistical nightmare, the DA-led City of Cape Town mayor and management could wash their hands in innocence and move towards taking full control of this event after already having an event in place that aims to emulate the annual Rio Carnival in the form of the annual Cape Town Carnival.

Though watching or participatin in the Kaapse Klopse is not everyone’s cup of tea, this very important aspect of our cultural heritage has for generations been independently organised by its own members and cannot be left to city officials and corporations to control at their own whims. Our Kaapse Klopse should not be used a s a political football.
There needs to be a clear commitment from the City of Cape Town mayor and management that they see members and fans of the Kaapse Klopse as an important cultural component of this city and not as political pawns they can move as they please.