This serves to respond to the questions posed regarding the All White 80s party held on 16 December 2016. Please note that there is no age restriction for music festivals and there was no need to verify ID documents of persons entering the Trimpark.
Secondly, as far as security measures are concerned, the organisers are required by Sasrea (the act regulating recreational events) to compile and submit the operational, security and evacuation plans and present them to the SAPS for scrutiny. Such plans were in place and, after long discussions with all the stakeholders, they were accepted and the security measures that were put in place were found to be reasonably practicable to secure and have an incident-free event. At the end of the event, no incidents were reported including the alleged rape referred to in your article. Neither the police nor any stakeholder brought the matter to the attention of the organisers.
It is our view that the security measures in place were adequate to ensure an incident-free event.
Lastly, we cannot comment on the allegations of minor children drinking alcohol as there is no evidence of such. Police, security and our own personnel patrolled during the event and no minor was found drinking alcohol.
We find the allegations misleading, without basis, false and defamatory. Every year, the Herald publishes a negative article about the festival at the Trimpark to cast aspersions on the event. This never happens with the white events held in Potchefstroom.
Your attempt to portray black people as drunkards and rapists is nothing new, it has been the perception that white racists hold about black people. We are not fazed by the allegations and we assure the people of Potchefstroom that the event will continue for many years to come.
This event is a tourist attraction for the city and thousands of people across the country flock here to attend it. It attracts people from as far as Botswana and Swaziland. The hotels and B&B establishments are full on these days as a result.
For the past ten years people have complaining about noise. To be honest it happens only once a year and if one weigh both interests, the interests of the majority of the people who benefit from the festival outweighs that of the minority complaining about noise.
It is true that the music system to accommodate about 10 000 people will generate a lot of noise but the fact is it is an event that happens only once a year.
The reason we applied to SAPS to end the event at 6h00 and not 3h00 am is that we experienced many people roaming around town early hours of the morning without transport and that posed a security risk for people and businesses or premises around town. Therefore when an event end at 6am there is transport available to transport them home and furthermore it is safe for people not to be on the streets when it is still dark.
These are some of the positive impacts that the event has had. We would like to encourage the Herald to write positive stories about the event instead of focusing on negativity year in and year out.