Grahamstown set for recovery at last

THE question of whether the National Arts Festival has outgrown Grahamstown has often been asked as the event has continued to successfully mushroom and expand its horizons since its humble beginnings 44 years ago. And the answer – from organisers, sponsors, performers and festival visitors themselves – has, for the most part, always been the same. Don’t mess with a winning formula. The consensus being that the transfer of this vibrant celebration of creative energy elsewhere would mean depriving it of the encircling magic that only this mini city can provide.

And that’s because Grahamstown – in its entirety – becomes the festival, with its existing educational pulse emulating a similar climate to that of its prestigious cousin, the Edinburgh Festival.

But the Makana Municipality – now more than ever – needs to get its act together.

A litany of service-delivery, sanitation and crumbling road woes is posing the question of the centre’s suitability with significantly more urgency, seriously jeopardising what is a substantial source of income for the city coffers.

Thanks to the efforts of an innovative citizen-driven initiative, Revive Makana, businesses and residents are knuckling down, raising funds and tackling the job of fixing Grahamstown themselves, but there is only so much the private sector can do.

Inept governance is no governance at all, which is why Ted Pillay – the Sarah Baartman District municipal manager on loan to Makana – has been tasked with developing a turnaround strategy which will address the most pressing basics of clean water, adequate electricity and sound infrastructure.

For this he needs money, but the province has made it clear that the city must get its house in order first.

It’s something of a Catch-22, but with those with a commercial interest in the city stretching out a hand and festival management willing to act as a catalyst for coming up with remedies, there is some hope that the stage is set for recovery. It is one performance Grahamstown is longing to see.