SHWASHWI likes good parties and there is nothing that gets on my nerves like a badly organised leg up.
After being dragged to a number of terrible shindigs last year, I want to warn all organisers and ponytails that I will not stand another yawn of a party.
It takes an effort for me to choose from all sorts of invites to go to a certain party and makeup does not come cheap either.
So here are some of the parties I don’t want to see in my inbox this year, and I am dead serious.
Sowaii The Soweto meets Hawaii three day music festival was a total flop. Sowaii, which was held at Walter Sisulu Square on Heritage Day only managed to attract a handful of people on the first day and the consecutive two days were no different.
The event failed to rise to expectations despite major acts such as Brickz, Major League and Heavy K. Can we please not see Sowaii this year?
Major League Gardens The music festival held at Innes Free Park in Sandton started off nicely but ended very bitter. The line-up was amazing with acts such as Mafikizolo, Ricky Rick, Fifi Cooper and Uhuru. Party goers enjoyed themselves and Twitter was abuzz. But when everyone had to go home, they had a surprise from the sneaky Joburg metro cops as about 49 cars were impounded for illegal parking. Each motorist had to folk out R2 500 to retrieve their vehicles.
The organisers, identical twins Banele and Bandile Mbere, continue to host these social events but word of advice to the twin table masters: can there be enough parking for everyone next time so the police won’t have a field day.
Spring Fiesta This festival is getting bigger each year and the line-up keeps expanding. The only unfortunate incident about the fiesta is how horribly packed it gets each year. Last year the venue was overcrowded with underage kids drinking all over the place making it chaotic. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a bit of fun but the organisers need to get stricter on allowing underage people in and if there is a need to have everyone experience the Spring Fiesta can we add more dates where jumping castles can be arranged?
SATY s The South African of The Year Awards were a guide on how not to host awards. First the line-up was a contradiction of what they are promoting, which is South African pride. Headline acts were initially American stars Christina Aguilera and Jason Derulo with local acts such as AKA, Mafikizolo and The Soil being reduced to mere supporting acts. To top it off, Jason angered many South Africans when he asked Ya l speak English right?”' during his performance?
SA Sports Awards The awards were held in Bloemfontein last year and were a mess from a technical production point of view. Minister Fikile Mbalula hardly audible during links, which looked horrible and clumsy on TV. Tsepo The Village Pope Tshola had a fair share of glitches after his mic failed him while on stage forcing him to walk off in tears.
Kwela Tebza’s New Year Eve Party This idea was a total joke. The three Lerole brothers under the influence of whatever it is they had had at dinner decided to have a NYE party and charge R4 000 for damage. Who does that? The gig, which was pencilled for Cape Town, was cancelled at the last minute. Don’t even dream about it this year.
Munghana Lonene Xitsonga Music Awards The SABC radio station held awards at the Giyani Stadium in Limpopo late last year. The awards ended in total chaos when attendees realised that their favourite musician Benny Mayingane was not billed to perform or to receive an award. The stage was set on fire, toilet papers thrown to the stage and the VIP area burnt to the ground.