Faiez Jacobs
Cape Town - The cape minstrels tradition is as old as slavery at the Cape and forms an intrinsic part of our slave history and heritage.
It celebrates the one day in the year when slaves were given the day off by their slave masters and they celebrated their freedom in a spirit of defiance, joy and mirth.
Traditionally, the Christmas Choirs would march on Christmas Eve, December 24, Malay Choirs on December 31 and the Minstrels on January 2 or Tweede Nuwejaar.
In all it has become an intrinsic part of Cape Town’s social memory both for the klopse participants handed down from generation to generation and equally so for the spectators whose presence and joining in the revelry some camping by the roadside in anticipation of the klopse is an equally intrinsic part of the collective heritage.
It also holds broader significance for the broader South African society as we continue to grapple daily with the challenges that Colonialism and Apartheid has bequeathed us in the form of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
It provides an opportunity for broader South African society to embrace an event of national and international stature.
I decided to walk the historic slave route from Hanover Street in District Six via Darling and Wale Street to Bo-Kaap.
The scars and trauma of the Group Areas Act are still patently manifest and for the communities displaced from District Six to Hanover Park, Manenberg, Bonteheuwel and Lavender Hill who have kept alive the tradition the annual march is both a reclaiming of space and an affirmation of the struggle that our communities continue to confront.
Much has been written about the history and significance of the klopse march .
It has received its fair share of challenges including multiple attempts to drive it into obsolescence during the colonial and apartheid era.
Even during the democratic dispensation, there have been attempts to appropriate its cultural heritage, foist name changes, and be subjected to party political machinations including manipulation of funding, withholding permission to march on its historic routes commemorating the slave marches, and the shenanigans of venue changes for different minstrel formations.
Given the historic and cultural significance of these events its unfortunate that marginalised working class communities of Cape Town are not given the kind of support that they deserve. After all they are keeping alive a tradition of national and international stature.
Considering the effort that goes into the organisation of a klopskamer, the months of practice, the musical arrangements and choreography, the annual struggle to pay for kit and equipment from meagre earnings, security, securing venues and permits and the logistics of the day transport, food, security, marshals etc to let multiple klopse troupes some five hundred strong and others as big as one thousand members arrive on time and march in sequence; its no easy task pulling of an event for an estimated 16 000 klopse.
Our communities deserve applause for their efforts year in an year out to keep the tradition alive and for upholding an event that has become a highlight of the Cape Town cultural and tourist calendar.
Its no exaggeration to say that apart from local support, tourists flock from all over the world to witness this spectacular phenomenon of colour, sound and festivity. Perhaps, nowhere else in the world is New Year's celebrated in this intense a festival of revelry, delight and joy.
It's high time that these events be recognised for their cultural and historical significance and accorded the appropriate national heritage status.
The announcement of Hollywood Bets as an anchor sponsor and a multiple year commitment from the City of Cape Town to sponsor R5m a year over three years is contentious to say the least.
We cannot allow our heritage to be gambled with.
Let's deal with the issue of sponsorship first. Sponsorship of the klopse has been around for a while with the likes of the Pennsylvanians, arguably the largest klopse troupe, being sponsored by Shoprite for a number of years.
While some may make arguments for or against Hollywood Bets I am of the view that the events are of such significance and draw such a wide cross section of people from home and abroad that they deserve full state funding for its cultural and historical value.
In any case in a community ridden with social malaise and dysfunction we should not be promoting gambling, alcohol and drugs as these all add to the social burden of working class communities.
Some may applaud the multiple year funding in cash and services commitment of the City of Cape Town over the next three years. One only has to look at the funding it allocates to the Cape Town Carnival a decade old event it introduced some may argue to displace the significance of the Klopse New Year festivities on the calendar.
I think the Cape Town Carnival has evolved into a significant event over the decade or so of its existence and we probably need more such events to boost local economic development, job creation, developing talent and all else it does.
However, it fades in significance in comparison to the history, legacy and significance of the Klopse tradition.
Mine is not an argument against the Cape Town Carnival but compare the kind of investment that the City of Cape Town has mobilised in comparison to the klopse and its blatantly clear where its heart lies.
The numbers are an inconvenient truth that belies the City of Cape Town's belligerent relationship with the klopse as a collective.
Its high time that the Tweede Nuwejaar be accorded national heritage status recognising the efforts of generations to keep alive this powerful tradition.
I call on the President and National government to ensure that we declare the event and its historic route a national heritage and to ensure that it is properly resourced and the potential of its grassroots reach and activity must be preserved for posterity.
Such a heritage status must of necessity include the Christmas Choirs, Cape Malay Nagtroepe and the Cape Minstrels or Kaapse Klopse.
This must include recognition of the the historic routes memorialising the march from District Six to the Bo Kaap Slave Quarter.
Jacobs is an ANC MP and whip of the small business development committee.
Cape Times