Free State police spokesperson, Peter Kareli, says while authorities from different government departments and private companies will be on the ground to ensure people can enjoy Macufe safely, attendees of the festival and residents in the host city must be vigilant. Major festivals and sporting activities around the country have in the past been targets of criminality with a high number of robberies, motor vehicle thefts and instances of driving under the influence being reported. Macufe has not been exempt from such.

Kareli urges attendees to keep their eyes on their belongings and to not travel alone very late in the evenings. The festival is expected to kick off on Friday 4 October with a launch at The Edge restaurant on Naval Hill at 06:00 am. The MEC of Sports, Arts, Culture, and Recreation, Dimakatso Mahasa, will attend this event.

The festival will go ahead despite concerns about the feasibility of the event presently. The most vocal of the government’s critics have been the DA in the province. A DA member of the Free State Provincial Legislature, David van Vuuren, went as far as describing the 22-year-old festival as a money-laundering scheme designed to benefit the politically connected. “The department has in the past years not had much of a return on investment from the contract they have signed with the company that organises this festival – C Squared – despite the millions they have to cough up in their service level agreement with the company,” Van Vuuren said previously.

The festival is expected to attract attendees in the hundreds of thousands.

OFM News