She was one of the kids who were disappointed to learn that this year the Marula Festival did not have the old tradition of bringing children’s entertainment. A video of her crying when she arrived at the Impala Park Stadium a day before the music concert, went viral on Tik Tok. “I’m not happy, because you did not bring any fun activities for the kids. When we came here, we found the area empty and we came here for nothing, and I would like to lodge a compalint,” Lonene said on the video.

The video received more than 100 000 views and 8 000 likes and judging by the comment, other parents and kids shared the same sentiment. The Herald reached out to the family and Lonene’s dad, Matimu Hlungwani said he was sad to see his daughter crying, but believes the video represented many other people’s views. He further said it almost feels as if the Marula Festival is only about the music festival and believes more attention to the kids is also needed.

Also read: Stars entertain crowd at Marula Festival in Phalaborwa

The municipality’s spokesperson, Jonas Mahesu said they could not comment, as they only provide a venue for the festival, but are not involved in the organising of the event. The Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (Ledet) is the main organiser of the event and spokesperson, Zaid Kalla, said they did not receive any proposals from  businesses specialising in children entertainment this year.

“The department would like to see local ownership especially black ownership of businesses which specialises in kids entertainment. We do not always find pleasure in empowering businesses or entrepreneurs outside the province. We hereby encourage local entrepreneurs specialising in kids entertainment to forward their proposals to Marula Festival project managers for consideration or partnership pur  poses,” he said.

Lonene is a Gr 4 learner at Phalaborwa Primary School (Red School) and wants to be the president or a medical doctor when she grows up.