Online Reporter
A DECADE has passed since the last Winter Jazz Festival, which was the flagship event of the local jazz festival, was held in Harare.
In its glory days, the festival attracted some of the best jazz musicians from both the local and international scene.
Harare businessman, Josh Hozheri, was the brains behind the festival which was mainly held at his joint at Jazz 105.
But, since the ownership of the joint changed hands, it also marked the beginning of the end of the festival.
It’s not the only jazz festival that has taken a knock.
It has also emerged that the Durban Jazz festival was not postponed, as reported last year, but was actually cancelled.
It means that for the first time in 22 years, the signature event did not take place.
On Christmas Eve, the Durban Jazz Festival team issued a public statement stating that the event had been postponed.
“The Durban Jazz Festival 2024, originally scheduled for December 26th, has been postponed due to logistical challenges.”
However, Sunday World has revealed that the glamour event was not postponed but was effectively cancelled.
The newspaper has revealed that its challenges had had nothing to do with logistics, but had everything to do with money.
The KZN Department of Sport Arts and Culture (DSAC) MEC Mntomuhle Khawula refused to sponsor the event with R2-million.
Instead he offered R150,000.
The event was scheduled to take place at the Durban International Convention Centre.
Sunday World revealed that the event organiser, Mdu Ngcobo, could not pay the deposit for artists and service providers.
“I’ve always applied for KZN-DSAC funding and it’s always been approved. But this year I was unsuccessful. I didn’t have a contract, but I was communicating with the officials. And our discussions were promising.
“As a result there was a reasonable expectation that they’d sponsor the event. Hence I went ahead and planned the event.
“I was informed just two days before the event that I’d not get the sponsorship. By that time I’d done everything, including booking the artists, the venue was booked. Accommodation and flights had been booked, the bill boards were all over Durban.
“I had to pay for PR and marketing. But due to this hiccup, all that money went down the drain. I’m already drowning in debt and I don’t know how I’ll pay those creditors.
“An event of that magnitude needs about R7-million. Obviously, I wasn’t expecting the department to pay for all the costs. However, the R2-million that I was asking for would have covered important expenses, including creation of jobs for artists.
“For example, our event plays live music. And this means I have to transport and accommodate the entire band. Ordinarily, a band consists of 10 to 12 members. In addition to that, live bands do not come cheap. Each live band or artist will charge anything between R200,000 to R400,000,” he explained.
A spokesperson for the KZN DSAC, Ntando Mnyandu, said that the department reserves the discretion to fund and or sponsor events based on strict guidelines and merits, as well as available resources. − H-Metro Reporter/Sunday World
