Prince Kaybee or not to be?
That is the question as the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality gears up to start its R4m summer season programme on Sunday, which mayor Mongameli Bobani has said will be “the biggest, best and most spectacular summer festival the city has ever had”.
However, there has been little to no advertising of the programme.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said major artists had been booked and would be performing “unless they disappoint us”.
According to him, the headline act for Sunday’s event is popular DJ Prince Kaybee.
But Prince Kaybee’s booking agent, who only identified himself as “Luvo”, said the DJ was not scheduled to play at the Hobie Beach event and was due to fly out of Johannesburg at 4.30pm on Sunday for an event in East London.
When this was put to Mniki, he was adamant that Prince Kaybee had been confirmed to perform at the Port Elizabeth event.
Asked why the summer season events had not been advertised yet, he said supply chain management delays had slowed down the process.
Nelson Mandela Bay head of sports, recreation, arts and culture Noxolo Nqwazi admitted that a summer season service provider had only been appointed a week or two ago, and then referred further questions to beaches, resorts and events management director Kithi Ngesi.
Ngesi said municipal policy prevented her from speaking to the media.
Mniki said: “At this time of the year, it is usually hard to confirm the availability of the artists – and also the delay in our supply chain process in appointing an organiser and a promoter are a further contributing factor to the late marketing of the summer season programme.
“The municipality could not hasten the programme because that would only create irregularities. We have just appointed a [service provider] company now, Soul Good, which will cost us R4m every year for the next three years.”
A service provider handles the logistics of the event, including booking artists, sound and stage, and the marketing and events management.
Mniki said advertising would start on Thursday.
Asked if the summer season programme was not meant to attract out-of-town visitors to generate tourism spend, he said the municipality would advertise on social media.
“We will advertise aggressively – we will use all platforms and use social media which is an international platform,” Mniki said.
“Our website is one of our platforms that gets visits from a number of international tourists.
“We will also use our Facebook and Twitter pages to market the season.”
Earlier in the day, Bobani brushed off the lack of advertising, saying officials were “just finalising all the logistics”.
“We are fully prepared for this summer season,” he said.
“It is not only the service provider that is ensuring that events are successful. All our events are going to be successful, preparations are there.”
“Right now we are just finalising logistics.
“The municipality is ready to welcome hundreds of thousands of tourists that are coming from around SA and also around the world – this is going to be one of the best summer seasons that the city is having.”
“[Of] our projected profits, we are expecting more than R100m – remember our BnBs and hotels are going to be full.”
In a statement released by SPAR – giving details of the company-sponsored Summer Nathi (“summer with us”) programme – Ngesi said that more than 400,000 people had visited the metro’s beaches during the holiday period previously.
“We are expecting the same sort of numbers this summer because we have beautiful beaches, three of which are Blue Flag-rated,” she said.
“We have also put measures in place so that there are sufficient lifeguards to make sure everyone is safe.”
A total of 60 lifeguards will patrol the 11 beaches under municipal jurisdiction.
“On Sunday, we have the summer carnival parade from the Christmas tree [at the Bayworld parking lot] to Hobie Beach, where there will be floats, traditional dancers, a brass band and various performers,” Ngesi said.
“The picnic at the Willow Dam in Uitenhage gained a lot of traction last year and that is something that is set to grow this time.
“We are delighted to include Uitenhage in the programme as part of our commitment to take Summer Nathi to all parts of the metro.”
The festivities will end with the traditional New Year’s Eve parties at Wells Estate and Hobie Beach.
Speaking on behalf of SPAR, Alan Stapleton said the company was delighted to be part of the Summer Nathi event again.
“Having the opening of the season start from the SPAR Christmas tree is a welcome addition to some of the events which will brighten up the city over the festive season and we hope PE folk and visitors will come down and enjoy the spectacle of the Christmas tree.”
Stapleton did not disclose the value of the company’s sponsorship.
Soul Good owner Darren Mungur referred all questions to the municipality.