Sheval Arendse, councillor for Ward 82 and Wolfgat sub-council chairperson
The story “Expectations exceeded” (Plainsman, December 6) refers.
Allow me to use this opportunity to commend the director of the DStv Mitchell’s Plain Festival Rozario Brown and his entire team, members of the various City of Cape Town Safety and Security directorate, as well as Fire and Rescue, Law Enforcement, Metro police, Disaster Management, City Health, SAPS, St John Medical Services and everyone else involved with ensuring another successful festival, held from Friday December 1 until Sunday December 3.
The City of Cape Town is putting a lot of resources into supporting events across the city, especially community-based events.
Events are an important creator of local job opportunities and this particular festival is known for creating more than 1 000 jobs over the festival weekend and many more during set-up.
It creates many opportunities for local artists and entertainers by providing a platform for them to gain much needed exposure and helps keep these young people off the streets and away from drugs and illegal substances.
I was extremely impressed to see the Western Cape Health Department and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Medical Services doing various free and voluntary medical tests on our people, including HIV /Aids, blood sugar and pressure levels.
The festival is a perfect example of how public private partnerships should work.
Over the three-days I noticed that most of the exhibitors and traders were doing a roaring trade.
The corporate sponsors used this platform to give back to its followers and thanked the community for their support.
I noticed Nedbank handing over two cheques to NGOs to the amount of R1.2 million and R650 000.
The bank further donated R10 000 to Heinz Park Primary School, one of the official beneficiaries of the festival.
The festival organisers, Cycle of Life, also annually sponsors the Heinz Park Primary School prom, which allows the pupils to have a once in a lifetime experience in a five-star setting. Thousands of festival-goers walked off with free bread sponsored by Albany Bread and other amazing prizes.
For the very first time since inception of this event there was an incident, which caused minor injuries to some and more serious injuries to others.
I was present at the festival during the time of this incident.
I would like to commend the organisers and the emergency rescue services for speedily responding to the incident, especially the members of City’s Fire and Rescue services.
I have heard and seen various comments around this incident and although one injury is one too many, I can assure the public that everyone involved in the event did their utmost to minimise the impact of this incident.
The event organisers have undertaken to redouble their efforts in order to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.
I wish the injured parties a speedy recovery.
Finally, I would urge the community to continue to support this event and to help it grow into the biggest community festival in the world.
The benefits of this event outweigh the negatives.
The festival puts Mitchell’s Plain on the national map and I am grateful to the organisers honouring their commitment to keep this festival an alcohol-free event and for ensuring zero tolerance towards illegal drugs and substances.
It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that this event remains safe and incident free for all.
Well done to the thousands of residents who attended and celebrated in a peaceful manner. Let’s all work together and ensure that the tenth anniversary of the festival in 2018 is the biggest and most successful event in the history of our community.
I hereby wish to thank each and every ratepayer and resident of Mitchell’s Plain for supporting the City in its efforts to reduce their water consumption in 2017 and trust that you will continue your efforts to reduce your water usage even more.
To all those who continue to pay their municipal accounts on a monthly basis and helping the City to render essential services to all our people, thank you.
I wish to urge each and every one of you to enjoy this festive season in a responsible manner and please do not drink and drive.
Here’s to wishing you the residents and family a blessed festive season and a prosperous 2018.
Keep safe and if on a long journey, stop and rest.
Elton Jansen, councillor for Ward 43 and Sub-council 23 chairperson
I attended the festival on Saturday and I must say the energy and atmosphere was electrifying.
Talented local acts were showcased and the festival is a platform for local artists to gain experience to perform in front of a crowd of
5 000 people.
As an artist, I want to applaud Rozario Brown, festival founder and director, for making use of local talent.
The event organisers really did everything in their power to put mechanisms in place to make this event as safe as possible.
Making an event incident free is not just the role of the event’s organisers.
The presence of neighbourhood watch members, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) have a role to play.
We all have a role to play as the community of Mitchell’s Plain.
I noticed that the event was attended by a lot of young people and sadly I witnessed how some of the youth came to the event under the influence or sneaked in illegal substances.
I want to applaud SAPS for the manner in which they dealt with those incidences and also event organisers for their zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol.
The DStv Mitchell’s Plain Festival is an alcohol-free event and not even the VIPs are served alcoholic beverages.
I am looking forward to the 2018 festival and urge all festival goers to really be responsible, especially when sending their children to the festival.
Under age children should be accompanied by an adult once inside.
I wish the organisers all the best in their preparation for the next festival.
