The City of Cape Town met with the Cape Carnival Committee yesterday to finalise a new date for the Minstrel Parade after its fourth postponement. All parties have finally agreed to secure the 17th January 2015 for the long awaited Klopse march through the City streets.

Cape Minstrel Carnival Association’s Kevin Momberg says due to the fact that the event will now be taking place on a Saturday, logistically this would work in their favour.

“We are confident we will have everything sorted out by Monday. It become easier now for all arrangements due to the event taking place on a Saturday,” Momberg added.

Responding to the Mayor of Cape Town, Patrica De Lille’s request to do an audit into the funds allocated to the Minstrel Association, Momberg expressed disappointment in the Mayor’s lack of confidence in the collective committee’s financial credibility regarding the carnival’s planning.

“Her (De Lille)’s request at this stage is not justified. We know the drill that we have to give an audit statement to the government. Our financial statements is open to the public. We can prove we are not liars and we are not thieves. She could have waited and asked us for a statement first before even hearing from us about issues. She is slandering us,” Momberg explained.

The lesson to be learned here is that the mayor should not intervene in issues that is not her responsibility. We are saying that this is a lesson to us. We should become more independent from the City. They used R8 million when they organised the march. Now they expect us to put on a show with just R2 million,” Momberg further explained.

Meanwhile, Momberg claims the Minstrel Carnival is a means of marketing Cape Town not only nationally but internationally. The festival reels in a large influx of tourists during the festive season.

About forty teams will be participating in this year’s event. Momberg said that the troupes have been working extremely hard in cleaning up their act in a pursuit to change the negative perceptions society has toward the Minstrel troupes.

“We try to enforce restrictions amongst troupes in terms of drinking alcohol and the illegal usage of drugs but we cannot control each and everyone’s actions. However, the troupes are a positive outlet for young members of the cape flats communities and through our Parade, we want to show the broader community the amazing talent and hopefuls we have amongst us,” Momberg further added. VOC (Ra’eesah Isaacs)