By Ramotswedi Rammutla
Mahikeng: The North West Department of Arts, Culture, Sports & Recreation to launch Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival, this was announced at a press briefing held at the Mmabatho Stadium on Wednesday February 08th.
The event is set to take place on the weekend of the 17th – 19th March. “We have appointed a service provider Showtime Entertainment to host the Mahika Mahikeng Cultural festival through a due process and we expect that they will deliver as per the prescripts of the event. We have not had any objections raised by any party on the appointment and until such we are confident that we have done our work” said Itumeleng Mogorosi Head of the Department.
The event will be hosted at a tune of R10 million and the department has reiterated that the budget cut was as a result of none delivery in the last 3 years.
“We wanted to host this event before the end of the financial year so as not to deny people of this provinces opportunities that come as a result of this flagship project. Mahika Mahikeng is a provincial event hosted in Mahikeng and we envisage that there will be beneficial outcomes to business and the art sector. It is in that spirit that we did not want the money going back to treasury thus the decision to host it in March” added Mogorosi.
The department has also announced that a launch will be held soon for the event were all aspects will be shared in detail. According to the department’s Chief Director Thabo Mabe the event will be hosted over 7 days “ The event will have exhibitions, the main show, film and theatrical shows, indoor gospel show, a Motswako – hip-hop show and a Jazz show all these events will start from the 13th March with the exhibition held at the convention center followed by the main shows at different venues including the Mmabatho Stadium and Barolong boo Ratshidi Kgotla in Mahikeng” said Mabe.
The event is said to also have district activations that will take place on dates leading at to the main date at venues across the province.
Though many aspects are still not clear the department has confirmed the event will be of a high standard though it would not be the same as the initial event that was capitalised at R30 million. The department has called for support from the community of Mahikeng and the North West as they envisage taking the event to its former glory.
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