President parties up a storm as guest at Cape jazz festival
Zuma shows no sign of Nkandla stress as he mingles with VIPs at social event
ANC heavyweights, including President Jacob Zuma, partied with about 30 000 music lovers at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival this weekend.
With R16 000 bottles of whisky on sale and big companies, parastatals and government departments splashing out on VIP suites to entertain A-list guests, the music festival has become one of South Africa’s leading social events.
Zuma looked happy and relaxed as he chatted to festivalgoers and other ANC bigwigs.
If he was feeling any pressure from the fallout of the Nkandla scandal, it was not showing.
The president attended the festival on Friday and sat watching Grammy award winner Kirk Whalum from the wheelchair section of the Kippies stage.
He sat alongside close presidential aide Laleka Kaunda.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was seated behind them.
Zuma kicked back in an opennecked shirt, his arm draped on the chair alongside him.
Curious onlookers stood next to the railing that separated them from the president and took pictures.
He was later joined by Sekunjalo’s Iqbal Survé.
Zuma chatted to some of the wheelchair users in the section before being whisked off under heavy security.
Upstairs at the Rosies stage,
Upstairs at the Rosies stage, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe enjoyed the sounds of American jazz singer Carmen Lundy
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe enjoyed the sounds of American jazz singer Carmen Lundy.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, a regular at the festival, was also spotted.
On Friday night, festivalgoers watched old favourites such as Shakatak and Jonas Gwangwa alongside younger performers such as the Shane Cooper Quintet and Snarky Puppy.
MiCasa, one of only two local acts performing on the main Kippies stage at the weekend, brought the house down.
Vocalist Jsomething, whose real name is Joao Fonseca, said their first appearance at last year’s festival had been in their “top three performances ever”.
It was a “magical moment” that had propelled them on to the big stage this year.
Saturday’s proceedings started with a festival first — two grand pianos on the Rosies stage played by young artists Bokani Dyer and Kyle Shepherd.
Shape of Strings to Come, Jimmy Dludlu’s four guitar ensemble, surprised the audience with guitar versions of classic local hits.
But it was the headline act, Erykah Badu, returning for her second performance, that everyone wanted to see. The US star was scheduled to hit the stage close to midnight with her trademark soulful sounds..
Earlier in the day, Badu ran two hours late for her press conference but apologised: “I’m so sleepy. I’m still on American time.”
She said her performances were her “therapy”, a chance to “become one with the audience, that’swhy I do it . . . I’m just here for the hip-hop and the music. Last time I was here was a super fun and exciting journey.”
In the Johnnie Walker private lounge, the whisky flowed as it was poured by the white-gloved hands of trained butlers.
Guests who bought bottles of Johnnie Walker gold and platinum whisky, selling for about R1 000 and R2 000 a bottle respectively, could lock their bottles in a specially designed “bottle keep” and access it again at any time over the weekend.
If there was any remaining at the end of the weekend, it could be sent by courier to the owner.
In the private hospitality lounges, the who’s who mingled away from the crowds.
Several big private companies, including Old Mutual, Vodacom and the Momentum group, had corporate hospitality suites, as did some government departments and parastatals.
Among them were the Passenger Rail Association of South Africa, the SABC, the Airports Company of South Africa, the South African Maritime Safety Association, Rand Water, the Department of Arts and Culture and the City of Cape Town.
The arts and culture department, the SABC and the City of Cape Town received their corporate hospitality suites as part of their sponsorship deals.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said the corporation’s three-year sponsorship deal involved broadcast sponsorship as well as a monetary component, but he would not divulge the value of the deal.
Grant Pascoe, the Cape Town mayoral committee member for tourism, said the city was the third-largest sponsor after the Arts and Culture Department and the SABC.
It contributed R1.65-million and a further R1.1-million in services, such as traffic and disaster management.
He said the event generated R500-million for the province and the city got branding and media exposure.
“Hosting guests at this iconic and economically rewarding event is part of the mayor’s civic responsibility,” said Pascoe.
“A range of stakeholders are invited, including councillors, our business partners and the media.”