City to fork out R5m for festivals

THE eThekwini Municipality will spend more than R5 million on sponsoring music and entertainment festivals in the next five months.

About nine entertainment events that include music award shows, festivals and picnics are scheduled from December 17 to April 1 next year in the city. The events include:

The Ink Kasi Experience and Youth In Action music festival on December 17.

Good Sundae event from December 18-25.

KwaMakhutha Year's Eve Picnic.

2017 Umnini New Year's Day Extravaganza.

The International Jazz Extravaganza in March.

Amantshontsho KaMaskandi awards in April.

Councillors were told at a full council meeting yesterday that the municipality had budgeted about R870 000 for the annual Amantshontsho festival. The other events would New cost around R4.7 million but it was not clear yesterday how much had been allocated to each event.

The proposal was approved by most parties in the council who felt it necessary to support the local music industry. The organisers had allegedly asked for more than a million.

The DA said that while it supported the municipality investing in the local industry, it felt many organisers were exploiting the city by getting it to host their events.