City’s R700 000 funding of M Plain Festival ‘an insult’

OPPOSITION parties in the City council are in agreement that the City’s R700 000 funding for the DStv kykNET & Kie Mitchells Plain Festival for the next three years is inadequate and that mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis must allocate more money.

The council recently approved a three-year agreement for hosting the festival, effective this financial year. The festival is expected to take place from December 2 to 4, at Westridge Gardens in Mitchells Plain.

The City will support the festival in the form of municipal and event services with R700 000 in the current financial year. An amount of R735 000 will be disbursed for the 2023/24 financial year, while in the 2024/25 financial year, the City will support the event with an amount of R771 750.

The council also approved the waiver of cost for poster sticker fees and the venue costs for City-owned venues for the event, subject to availability.

The festival is the city’s biggest community festival, attracting more than 40 000 people over three days.

However, Cape Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Abrahams said the proposed funding was a pittance and the amount must be doubled. Abrahams said the City spent millions on motorsport, which he said was a white-dominated event for the elite and the privileged.

“The festival is our reminder of what our locals can do. The DA, true to its roots, undervalues all that coloured people can achieve.

“Events in communities of colour will forever receive small change from a DA that exists to pander to a minority. We agree to the funding in principle, but we cannot agree with the amount being contributed,” he said.

EFF ward councillor Patricia Booi said although the party supported the festival, the City needed to invest more money into these festivals and events of its kind in other poor communities.

She said “throwing a low” R700 000 budget at a community like Mitchells Plain was an insult compared with what other festivals in privileged white communities were receiving.

Booi said these festivals not only created opportunities for the unemployed and local traders, they inspired the youth as they looked forward to showcasing their talent as an alternative to drug use and gangsterism.

Safety and security Mayco member JP Smith however said the agreement demonstrated the City’s commitment to supporting community-oriented events aimed at making a positive impact and amplifying the economic growth of those areas.

He said the Mitchells Plain Festival had, over the past 13 years, proved to be a valuable platform for local traders, suppliers, artists and organisations to make a living and promote their businesses.

Smith said it had also been an important resource for young people in the area to get career guidance, employment opportunities and learn important skills.