The proposed Tshwane Dinokeng TribeOne concert has been cancelled after R40 million was spent on the event.
Media reports state that the organisers called off the event because Tshwane metro was late in getting the terrain ready, but NtokozoXaba of the metro environment management, disputed this.
“There are water, electricity, roads and free Wi-FI and on Monday the terrain would have been handed to the organisers,” he said.
Metro spokesman Selby Bokaba said the City had tried in vain to get hold of the organisers for the two camps to get toegether and talk after their decision to cancel the festival.
The decision to call off RockStar 4000 at the last minute was made despite attempts by the city to push ahead and Bokaba said it would be fought in court.
”The organisers under the leadership of Sony MusicEntertainment Africa decided to cancel the event, even though we paid for it and supported it by supplying the infrastructure for it to take place.”
Bokaba said it was the organisers who decided on an open veld of about five hectare close to Refilwe with no infrastructure as the ideal spot for the concert. ”We were requested to lay on roads, electricity and to erect a stage for the event. All this, even with Wi-Fi, we did,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) urged the metro to re-coup the millions spent for the money to be used on improving service delivery in the area concerned.
The festival to celebrate 20 years of democracy had been expected to attract some 100 000 people.
Some 150 artists from South Africa, Burundi, Kenia, Botswana, Senegal and Zambia were invited to perform. Among would have been Nicki Minaj and Kid Ink and the American hip-hop singer J Cole.
The DA contended the concert should have been considered wasteful and fruitless expenditure from the beginning.
”The city was forced to spend enormous amounts of money on building roads and installing water lines, electricity and other infrastructure after organisers chose a piece of privately-owned land with no services,” said Adriana Randall, MPL of the DA constituency Cullinan.
Rekord was unable to immediately reach the organisers for comment.
For more news, like Rekord on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Also read: Dinokeng concert cancelled
