Cape Town - The Tweede Nuwe Jaar Minstrel Parade is getting a new format and will now be known as The Cape Town Street Parade, it was announced on Tuesday.
In partnership with the City of Cape Town, The Cape Town Street Parade organisers have promised a world-class, inclusive event on 2 January 2018 for the people of Cape Town and for visitors to the Mother City.
"It will build on the long tradition and legacy of the Voorsmaakie and Tweede Nuwe Jaar, with the key aim of unifying the people of the Western Cape, and involving the most vulnerable on the Cape Flats through opportunities for youth and cultural development and employment creation," the organisers said on Tuesday.
Over the last two years, the Kaapse Klopse Karnival, together with the extended team of experts and friends of the carnival, have been painstakingly analysing the carnival with a view to building on the positive aspects which the Voorsmaakie and the Tweede Nuwe Jaar represent in the lives of the people of the Western Cape. The new format seeks to monetise the carnival in such a way that it becomes sustainable, attracts new partners, includes other forms of carnival entertainment, and ultimately, draws people from diverse backgrounds to participate in existing troupes or to create their own troupes, the organisers said.
Safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith said: “I believe that the minstrel event can be hugely successful, and of the quality and scale of the Rio Carnival, drawing meaningful corporate sponsorships and becoming a sustainable event independent of City funding. This requires us
to retain the important elements of the tradition while adding a professional organisational structure, building The Cape Town Street Parade as an iconic event on the international calendar, while creating employment opportunities and legacy benefits for the minstrels and their communities.”
“It is time for Cape Town and the Klopse of this city to start latching on to the momentum being created by The Cape Town Street Parade. The time for the change is now and everyone has to start committing in order to finally turn this event into the jewel event that we want it to be. This event is being returned
to the people,” said Muneeb Gambeno, director of the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association.