Picture: North West MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation, Kenetswe Mosenogi/Facebook
By OBAKENG MAJE
North West MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation (ACSR), Kenetswe Mosenogi has come under fire after taking the media launch of the much-anticipated Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival to Sandton in Gauteng Province, instead of Mahikeng.
Many residents believe that taking the media launch to Sandton is ‘irrelevant’ and a snub to the North West province. They say the event will take place in Mahikeng, but instead of putting the capital city on the map, they will rather market Sandton.
The renowned entrepreneur and Mahikeng Digital Innovation Hub, Joepac Ndaba said: “I don’t like commenting about issues tsa Mahikeng (sic). I spend a lot of time defending Mafikeng…. Maara e yone ke nonsense nje.
“I tried to be open-minded and listen to Stone trying to explain the reason behind this mediocre, but I must say, I don’t hear anything concrete he is talking about.”
Ndaba further said, media houses will not come to Mahikeng because, instead of placing Mahikeng on the map as event marketers, they rather market Sandton. He added that the department should rather let the media houses come to Mahikeng and show the world how it is.
“This is just false advertising about Mahikeng and a total disrespect to media houses in the North West. This is also disrespectful to places like Sun City, Mmabatho Convention Centre etc like what happened ka #FillUpMmabathoStadium.
“In 2018, the media launch was at Mmabatho Palms, in 2017, the media launch was at Barolong Boo Ratshidi and both events went super well. The disrespect that this decision is placing on us by our fellow business partners based in Sandton,” he said.
According to Ndaba, some business people in Sandton also questioned the relevance of taking Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival media launch to Sandton.
He said one of them asked him: “So Mr, in the whole of North West province, you do not have venues to host a media launch? Your decisions are affecting our credibility.”
Ndaba encouraged people to take Mahikeng seriously and let them be forward thinkers.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) secretary in North West, Papiki Babuile shared the same sentiments. Babuile said, there is nothing that the ANC-led government can do, which is in the interest of the people and ensure that the province is developed.
“Currently, we have Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival, where the service provider is appointed to organise the event, launching it in Sandton.
“I mean, do we not have venues in Mahikeng, which can host the launch and make sure that atleast our people are benefiting? As when these venues are booked, the hospitality industry is going to benefit,” he said.
Babuile said Small Micro Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) owners will also benefit from this process. He said those who are currently benefiting from Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival are people in Gauteng, while using the money from this province.
The Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL) and Democratic Alliance (DA) Spokesperson on Arts, Culture, Sports, and Recreation in North West, Winston Rabotapi said they demand transparency in the R40 million Mahika Mahikeng Festival contract.
“We demand full transparency over the three-year R40 million contract awarded to Mega Works Trading Enterprise 200 (Pty) Ltd for managing the Mahika Mahikeng Festival.
“Although we welcome, in principle, the event’s comeback following an extended hiatus brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak and the opportunity it presents to display and promote North West talent as well as the province’s economic benefits, concerns about the tendering procedure still exist,” Rabotapi said.
He said the Mahika Mahikeng Festival was initially scheduled to take place in December 2022, but it was postponed amid allegations that the owner of Mega Works Trading Enterprise 200 (Pty) Ltd, Molefi Setlalaleng, irregularly enjoyed preferential consideration during the tender-bid process.
“We have written to Mosenogi requesting the full details of the bid adjudication process that led to Mega Works Trading Enterprise 200 (Pty) Ltd awarded this R40 million three-year contract.
“We want to know how many bids were received, the names of each company, cost of each bid, the names of the members of the bid adjudication committee and their record of decision,” said Rabotapi.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, Kenetswe Mosenogi said: “The department has noted the concerns from the North West community around the media launch that is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg on March 1, 2023.
“It is therefore important for the department to provide context and clarity regarding our communications roll out and the purpose of the media launch for Mahika Mahikeng 2023.”
Mosenogi said, the purpose of the media launch is to brief the broader media community around the plans for Mahika Mahikeng 2023. She said this is an important milestone as it provides a platform to
promote the event nationally and create awareness about the festival, with the intention to encourage people from all over the country to attend this event.
The Guardian 