Tag Archives: events capital of Africa

City of Cape Town accused of subsidising Michael Bublé and One Direction concerts in Cape Town, did they benefit Tourism?!

One Direction concert Cape TownThe City of Cape Town has been accused by ANC councillors that the Michael Bublé and One Direction concerts, held earlier this year within ten days of each other in the City-owned Cape Town Stadium, were in part funded by the City, and ultimately its ratepayers!

Reported in Die Burger,  the article alleges that R2,1 million of ratepayers’ monies were used to pay for tickets and security for the 19 March Michael Bublé and 1 April One Direction concerts.  R243000 is alleged to have been paid to concert organiser ‘Big Concerts International’ (sic – the company is known as Big Concerts), a private company and dominant concert organiser in our country, for tickets, and close to R500000 for security, an expenditure which should have been the responsibility of the concert organiser.

At a Council meeting of the City on Thursday Acting Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Transport for Cape Continue reading →

2015 ABSA Cape Epic Untamed African Mountain Bike Race 12th epic challenge!

Cape Epic 2015 2South Africa’s most challenging mountain bike race starts rolling today for the 12th time, an eight-day Untamed African Mountain Bike Race challenge for 600 cycle teams covering more than 700 km through Cape Town and Western Cape towns on its route.  Its impact on the local economy of R300 million makes it one of the most significant events for our region.

The local and international media coverage is vast, with 1,1 million YouTube views, and 25000 hours of TV coverage in 175 countries.   The City of Cape Town supports the ABSA Cape Epic to help position our city as the Events Capital of Africa, and to stimulate job Continue reading →

City of Cape Town Sweet & Sour Service Awards!

City Hall Sweet ServiceThe Sweet Service Award goes to the City of Cape Town, for its announcement that it is to spend R 25 million to upgrade the City Hall, in its attempt to position Cape Town as the Events Capital of Africa, according to Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events, and Marketing Grant Pascoe.  In 2013 the venue hosted 143 events attended by more than 150000 persons.  The City Hall is a beautiful building with character and history, and the renovations will include roof repairs and the protection of the ‘architecture and design of the ceiling‘, reports the Cape Times.  The City Hall’s toilet facilities are shocking, despite an upgrade last year, and one hopes that a few pennies will be made available for the modernisation of these.

Street lights Kloofnek Road 6 March Whale Cottage PortfolioThe Sour Service Award goes to the City of Cape Town, for its wastage of electricity on Thursday 6 March, the day of the country-wide electricity load-shedding, in that all the street lights on Camps Bay Drive, Kloofnek Road, and on the highways were switched on during the daytime, despite various parts of the city experiencing electricity cuts, causing havoc for businesses as well as residents!

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at  whalecot@iafrica.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:  www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Cape Town International Jazz Festival positions Cape Town as Jazz Capital of Africa!

Jazz Festival Banner Whale Cottage PortfolioAt the media launch yesterday of the 15th Cape Town International Jazz Festival at the Cape Town International Convention Centre Mayor Patricia de Lille said that the goal of Cape Town is to become the Events Capital of Africa, and with it the Capital of Jazz in Africa, attracting 37000 Festival goers.  An exciting line-up of international and local jazz artists was announced at the launch.

The launch was addressed by a number of speakers. Billy Domingo, the Chief Operating Officer of espAfrika, the events company organising the Jazz Festival, was a witty MC for the event.  Rashid Lombard organises the musical side of things, and announced that since ticket sales opened last month, all two-day passes have been sold,.  There are about 500 day tickets available for each of the two days.  The event is a team effort, within their company (of mainly ladies he joked) and also with the City of Cape Town.  They want to create a legacy through the event, which includes a training and development Jazz FEstival Rashid Lombard Whale Cottage Portfolioprogramme which has already seen six students study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the USA.  Job creation is another goal.  Lombard proudly shared their Social Media statistics, having more than 14000 Twitter followers, close to 9000 Likes on Facebook, and 140000 YouTube views.

Lombard also presented the eagerly awaited line up for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, which includes top international jazz artists Level 42, Shakatak, Eryka Badu (but not mentioned in the media release), and Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya.  Other international artists are Andreya Continue reading →