Street Parade offers big potential

KAAPSE Klopse Karnival Association director Muneeb Gambeno says it is time for Cape Town and the Klopse to start “latching” on to the momentum created by the Cape Town Street Parade.

This was during the launch of the Cape Town Street Parade in partnership with the City.

Earlier this year the City announced that it had approved R6.1 million in funding support to the minstrel events and Malay choirs. The City will support six associations to host events, including Tweede Nuwe Jaar, other minstrel tournaments, and the Malay choir competitions.

“The time for change is now and everyone has to start committing in order to finally turn this event into the jewel event that we want it to be.

“This event is being returned to the people,” said Gambeno.

Previously known as Tweede Nuwe Jaar, the parade seeks to be an inclusive carnival for all.

Organisers hope it will build on the long tradition and legacy of the Voorsmaakie and Tweede Nuwe Jaar, aimed at unifying the Western Cape, and involving the most vulnerable on the Cape Flats in cultural development and employment creation.

The organisers said next year’s Cape Town Street Parade would consolidate relationships with the City and the province.

“Over the last two years, the Kaapse Klopse Karnival, together with an extended team of experts and friends of the carnival, has been painstakingly analysing the carnival with a view to building on the positive aspects which the Voorsmaakie and the Tweede Nuwe Jaar represent in the lives of the people of the Western Cape.”

“The new format seeks to monetise the carnival in such a way that it becomes sustainable, attracts new partners, includes other forms of carnival entertainment, and ultimately draws people from diverse backgrounds to participate in existing troupes or to create their own troupes,” the organisers said.

The parade seeks to be an inclusive carnival for all