The first Mnquma Jazz festival held at Gcuwa Dam, which was expected to draw thousands of music lovers, was marred by bad weather and delayed for more than five hours.
The festival which had a promising line-up of nationally acclaimed musicians such as Simphiwe Dana, Tsepo Tshola, Thandiswa Mazwai and Ifani was meant to start at noon yesterday. But by 2pm none of the musicians had arrived and the organisers were nowhere to be found.
The music only started after 4pm.
Reveller Nozipho Fekade who arrived at the venue at noon found that not even the stage had been set up.
“This is so disappointing, when we got here there was nothing happening, no music and no sign of anything like an event.
“We have not seen any of the musicians and no one came to us to explain what was going on,” said Fekade.
She waited regardless because she wanted value for her money.
She said initially she was excited about the event because “for once big industry names were coming to our doorstep”.
Asanda Maja said the event would have done a great deal to place Butterworth on the map – but was poorly organised.
The DA’s Veliswa Mvenya said the delays were probably due to poor organisation.
“This is unacceptable – we have come out here to support the municipality and we arrive here to find nothing is happening. We have brought our children and visitors from out of town, so its embarrassing for us as well,” said Mvenya.
One of the local acts meant to support the headlining acts, was King Wave who said they were disappointed but were professional and would wait to be told what to do.
At 5pm Umhlobo Wenene’s DJ Pastor was the only national act to have arrived – but his set was disrupted by power cuts.
Attempts to contact the local municipality for comment were unsuccessful.
Poor start to first Mnquma Jazz festival
The festival which had a promising line-up of nationally acclaimed musicians such as Simphiwe Dana, Tsepo Tshola, Thandiswa Mazwai and Ifani was meant to start at noon yesterday. But by 2pm none of the musicians had arrived and the organisers were nowhere to be found.
The music only started after 4pm.
Reveller Nozipho Fekade who arrived at the venue at noon found that not even the stage had been set up.
“This is so disappointing, when we got here there was nothing happening, no music and no sign of anything like an event.
“We have not seen any of the musicians and no one came to us to explain what was going on,” said Fekade.
She waited regardless because she wanted value for her money.
She said initially she was excited about the event because “for once big industry names were coming to our doorstep”.
Asanda Maja said the event would have done a great deal to place Butterworth on the map – but was poorly organised.
The DA’s Veliswa Mvenya said the delays were probably due to poor organisation.
“This is unacceptable – we have come out here to support the municipality and we arrive here to find nothing is happening. We have brought our children and visitors from out of town, so its embarrassing for us as well,” said Mvenya.
One of the local acts meant to support the headlining acts, was King Wave who said they were disappointed but were professional and would wait to be told what to do.
At 5pm Umhlobo Wenene’s DJ Pastor was the only national act to have arrived – but his set was disrupted by power cuts.
Attempts to contact the local municipality for comment were unsuccessful.
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