Festival move won’t ‘burn’ NC

THE NORTHERN Cape Tourism Authority has reacted to the announcement that the popular Afrikaburn festival will be relocating its event site from the Northern Cape to the Western Cape by saying that the move would not have a negative impact with regard to tourism in the Province.

Afrikaburn, the week-long event described as “a participant-created movement and social experiment in decommodification, creativity, self-reliance and radical self-expression”, is held annually and was hosted on the Stonehenge Private Reserve (fondly known as Tankwa Town), in the Northern Cape’s Tankwa Karoo, since 2007.

During the event, a temporary city of art rises from the Tankwa Karoo dust, attracting thousands of “participants” (also known as “Burners”) from across the globe.

This week the Afrikaburn organisation announced that the event will relocate to a new site, situated on Quaggafontein and Vaalfontein Farm, within the Western Cape from 2021.

Northern Cape Tourism Authority spokesperson Peter Mckuchane said yesterday that it had always known that Afrikaburn was looking for a permanent site, and were kept “in the loop” about developments, as members and supporters of the Afrikaburn family.

“The Northern Cape and towns like Calvinia have always played a part in welcoming Afrikaburners. The towns along the route stocked up more than usual during Afrikaburn to meet the demands of the Burners traveling towards the event. The Hantam Municipality always provided certain services to the event and will still provide such, although the event will be moving,” Mckuchane said.

He added that the move would have “no real negative impact” since Burners from Gauteng, the North West, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape will still utilise the route via Calvinia to get to the venue.

“The towns such as Sutherland and Middelpos will benefit from this move and Afrikaburn will be accelerating their community initiatives to the surrounding Northern Cape towns more effectively from their new home. The Tankwa Karoo National Park may also play a role in future initiatives which will therefore only enhance our tourism offerings,” Mckuchane said.

He concluded by saying that while the event would technically move to within the borders of the Western Cape, the greater commitment from Afrikaburn would still be vested in the Northern Cape and further increase opportunities for the destination. The actual venue is still being promoted as Tankwa Town, he said.

Meanwhile, news of the move has been received mainly positively, even as most previous attendees said that they felt a “deep emotional connection” to the Northern Cape site, described as a “coming home” by dedicated Burners.

Many welcomed the “blank canvas” the new site would provide.