The flagship programme in question is the controversial Mangaung Cultural Festival (Macufe) which started in 1997. 

During the tabling of the provincial budget, the MEC of Treasury, Gadija Brown, agreed with the statement by the Free State premier, Mxolisi Dukwana, during his State of the Province Address (Sopa). He said Macufe remains strong in terms of tourism and economic growth. Brown stated Macufe can be reshaped and repackaged into a major economic catalyst for the province. “We encourage the department to continue implementing the programmes aimed at strengthening social cohesion in the province,” she added.

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The department will receive an amount of R633 million in 2023/24, R644 million in 2024/25 and R663 million in 2025/26. “It means the department will spend more than R1.9 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).”

Some people regard Macufe as the biggest festival in the province and one of the biggest in South Africa. Over the previous years, Bloemfontein has seen hundreds of people in attendance. However, opposition parties in the province have viewed the festival as the ruling party’s piggy bank. 

Macufe took a break for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Its comeback in 2022 was welcomed with court cases questioning the legitimacy of the appointment of the service provider.

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All this began when the department appointed the C-Squared Consumer Connectedness company, also known as C-Squared.  The company’s total bid price to organise the event was R16 849 863. C-Squared’s involvement with Macufe goes far back. The company has previously been accused of milking the department's budget with the festival. 

In 2018, OFM News reported that the then DA spokesperson on Public Accounts and Finance, David van Vuuren, alleged C-Squared was paid at least R47 million in 2017 for the festival – without the department benefitting from money collected at the gates or from sponsors. 

The CEO of C-Squared, Ben Moseme, refuted allegations that the festival "only benefits a few politically connected whilst the bulk of the income generated from the festival go towards his company". At the time of his statement, the festival had reached its 21st year and attracted approximately 200 000 people to the city annually.

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That above-mentioned decision was dragged to court by one of the unsuccessful Macufe bidders, Mosa Likobo, the founder and director of DS Consortium. Likobo took the matter to court because he wanted the alleged unlawful decision of the department to be reviewed and set aside. 

He wanted C-Squared to be excluded when the department reevaluates the bids submitted for the tender. His founding affidavit outlines that in awarding the tender to C-Squared, the department had deviated from the tender specifications without informing other bidders. The invitation for service providers to bid to render event management services for the Macufe events had specifications which included the dates, venues and capacity of the events, which he said were changed at a later stage.

ALSO READ: Decision to appoint C-Squared for Macufe set aside

Days after the commencement, Judge Phillip Loubser handed down the verdict in favour of Likobo. The decision taken by the department to select C-Squared as the service provider for Macufe was reviewed, declared unlawful, and set aside. However, this did not prohibit the festival from continuing. Giving his reasons for the judgment he handed down, he explained that he has refrained from granting the orders in prayer 4 of the Notice of Motion – because it would not be in the best interest of the public, should he grant those orders. Some of the orders in question are:

– The tender must be awarded to the applicant – DS Consortium – or the department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation must be ordered to re-evaluate the bids submitted.

– As the successful bidder, C-Squared must be excluded from the re-evaluation.

ALSO READ: Macufe tender scrutinised by Hawks

The South African Police Services' Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, have also confiscated Macufe documents. This was done to investigate any irregularities in awarding the tender to C-Squared. The Hawks’ senior communication officer, Philani Nkwalase, said a criminal case was opened after allegations were made during the court hearing that the tender was tainted by administrative irregularities. 

“The administrative irregularities included deviating from the specifications in the tender invitation, without informing other applicants.”  

OFM News