Promises have been made at the beginning of the 2023/24 financial year that plans will be put in motion to make Macufe 2023 bigger and better.

Political heads of provincial departments have placed Macufe in the spotlight and said it will be bigger and better in 2023. Days ahead of the usual period of the festival and no word has been said on whether Macufe will continue. 

However, the show goes on in Bloemfontein as there are multiple events held by private companies at the beginning of October.

The MEC of Treasury, Gadija Brown, during her budget speech for the province, agreed with the statement by the provincial premier, Mxolisi Dukwana, during his State of the Province Address (Sopa). He said Macufe remains strong in terms of tourism and economic growth. Brown, to reiterate, said Macufe can be reshaped and repackaged into a major economic catalyst for the province.

Macufe is a flagship programme of the provincial Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation which started in 1997. Macufe is regarded as one of the biggest festivals in the province. It has over the years attracted thousands of people, boosting the economy of the province. Not only would the department and the implementing agent benefit, but hotels, shopping centres, and food outlets would also benefit from the thousands of people descending in the province. 

However, despite others also benefiting from the festival, opposition parties have labelled Macufe 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 marred by court cases questioning the legitimacy of the appointment of the service provider.

Limakatso Mahasa, MEC for Sport, Art, Culture and Recreation, said during the tabling of her budget her department is committed to ensuring more local artists are featured at this year’s festival. Last year, more than 50% of performers were from the province.

“To be precise, out of 65 artists [at the main festival], 34 were local Free State artists. The Macufe Homebrew programme, which is a developmental programme meant to provide participation opportunities exclusively for local artists, provided this opportunity to about 145 Free State artists,” said Mahasa.

Before the start of Macufe 2022, the department held several events in an attempt to look for local artists to form part of the festival main stages. The departmental spokesperson, Tankiso Zola, said various artists will also be selected from the Macufe Homebrew programme to form part of the main Macufe Bloemfontein in October 2022.

Coming to the court case, Mosa Likobo, founder and CEO of DS Consortium, who was also in the running to be appointed as a service provider for Macufe, launched an urgent bid to obtain a court order against the department. This was because he believed the department’s decision was biased, therefore he wanted it to be declared unlawful and set aside.

During open court, it was revealed that C-Squared had sent a letter to the department, proposing the company and C-Squared work together. The court at a later stage ruled the department’s decision to appoint C-Squared as a service provider unlawful and therefore set it aside. This judgment has been appealed several times by the department and judgment on the latest appeal has not been delivered.

The letter outlined that C-Squared has been with Macufe for 12 years.

“C-Squared’s concerns about the tender invitation include that the timing of the call for bids, at such a late stage, is severely unfortunate as it seems that some of the events that the department intends to host and hold during the festival period, had already been catered for by C-Squared for the same period, which may lead to confusion and/or a duplication of events,” read the letter.

OFM News/Tshehla Koteli