Alcohol-free township fest pulls crowds

IT IS probably the driest festival in the country. Yet it will be attended by more than 40 000 people‚ including international tourists.

Organisers of the DStv Mitchells Plain festival said the prohibition of alcohol had been strategic.

“Mitchells Plain‚ the Cape Flats and many parts of the Western Cape are plagued by violence,” said Rozario Brown.

“Illegal drugs and alcohol play a critical role in the destruction of our communities and since inception we took a position that this even would remain an alcoholevent with a zero tolerance towards illegal drugs and substances.”

Brown said the lack of alcohol had played a “superb” role in the level of safety at the event.

The festival was started in 2009 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Mitchells Plain‚ which is home to about 700 000 people. President Jacob Zuma and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille were among the dignitaries who attended the inaugural event.

In 2011‚ when Zuma made another appearance‚ he had the crowd in stitches with his dance moves and his Afrikaans.

“. . . way back in 1963 we got arrested by the apartheid regime for fighting for freedom.

“We were in detention in Pretoria and‚ of course‚ I got beaten up‚ very thoroughly‚ for not knowing Afrikaans‚” the president said.

“The warders came to the door and asked me a question that I didn’t understand. The question was: ‘ K****r‚ waar is jou kaartjie?’ And I thought Afrikaners were not very clever. How could they say – when I was wearing a silver-grey trousers – I’m wearing khaki?”

Brown said the festival was changing perceptions of the country’s third biggest township, with a growing number of tourists attending it. — DDC