Cape Town - A political storm is brewing over the Cape Town Klopse as minstrel troupe leaders claimed this week they were being pressured by representatives of their carnival committee to muster at the ANC’s birthday bash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Several troupe leaders confirmed to Weekend Argus that a meeting of the Klopse took place on Wednesday night, where they were instructed to turn out and perform at the stadium on Saturday.
Minstrels representative Kevin Momberg is on record promising a turnout of 40 000 from the community of minstrels and their supporters at the ANC festivities.
Earlier reports were that the minstrels were to be issued with armbands bearing the ANC’s logo and the image of Nelson Mandela as part of their marching gear for the occasion.
The manufacture of the armbands was commissioned by ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman.
Momberg, quoted in the Cape Times, said the armbands were to have been worn in honour of “Mandela, who has been our patron since 1996.
The bands will have an ANC logo because Mandela belonged to that party”.
Now the EFF, among others, have accused the ANC of manipulating the minstrels to boost attendance at and the profile of the ANC’s 103rd birthday celebrations in the only province where the party does not command majority support.
As tempers flared this week after the carnival was stillborn on Monday when the organising committee failed to get the logistics in place, and today (the day of the ANC birthday bash) was discussed as an alternative, Fransman accused the DA of attempted political interference.
“The DA strategically wanted to have this event held on January 10. They wanted to portray that the ANC is for black people, and the coloured people are at a different event,” Fransman charged.
“The divide and rule was the old National Party tactic among black and coloured people… (mayor) Patricia (de Lille) must admit she is selling out her own slave history. She is becoming the master’s girl.”
Meanwhile, the political allegiances of minstrel bosses began to emerge too.
A massive ANC banner hangs in the the Lansdowne factory of Momberg and
Richard “Pot’ Stemmet, heads of the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA), where they produce costumes for almost 40 troupes signed up with their association. It reads: “My ANC, my vision, my future.”
Stemmet said De Lille and the DA would at times use the alternative Kaapse Klopse Karnaval Association (KKKA) “if she could not get her way with us”. The KKKA is an offshoot of the CTMCA.
The EFF this week accused the DA of “countless attempts to derail” the parade.
In recent weeks its Western Cape branch used minstrels to gain support in the city’s Cape Flats working class areas, where most minstrels live.
Its provincial chairman, Bernard Joseph, also alleged that minstrel leaders were indebted to Fransman for “securing the Lotto contribution towards the Klopse”.
This was in reference to the R13.75 million the National Lotteries Board paid the CTMCA last year.
“The EFF is aware of ANC forces at play within the Klopse association,” Joseph charged.
Fransman dismissed the allegations, and the CTMCA said the EFF “have nothing to do with the minstrels”.
Stemmet said: “Go to the Lotto and ask them if it’s true. We apply for funding like everybody else.”
But several minstrel troupe leaders said this week their ranks had become politicised, and that this was slowly killing the annual parade in central Cape Town.
One leader, who asked to remain anonymous, said the event had become less about celebrating culture and more about garnering votes.
“Both the ANC and DA want to use the carnival for their own purposes. They want to attract the coloured vote, and see the carnival as the easiest way,” he said
Another troupe leader said he would rather his troupe be affiliated with the ANC than watch it “destroyed” by the DA.
“I proudly support the ANC because they understand what the minstrels mean to us, and are willing to keep us alive. Even if we are political pawns we must do whatever we can to preserve our heritage,” he said.
“The DA government wants full control of the minstrels and if they can’t have it, they will destroy its reputation through the media.”
De Lille, meanwhile, has said she wants to see an audit report from the CTMCA on how it spent the R2m allocated by the city.
While Stemmet heads and administers public funds on behalf of thousands of minstrels, he faces two criminal charges. One, dating from 2006, is in connection with alleged possession and distribution of dagga and ecstasy.
The second is for allegedly being in possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Saturday Argus