Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe) will continue despite a recent ruling by Bloemfontein court.
According to a recent report by City Press, this year’s Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe) will continue despite the Bloemfontein High Court’s decision to set aside the awarding of the festival tender to the event management company, C-Squared.
The High Court had ruled that it was unlawful that the Free State department of sport, arts, culture, and recreations decided to award the tender to C-Squared, and set the case aside. The court also nullified the service agreement that had been concluded between the department and C-Squared.
They were also jointly ordered to pay the cost of the application. C-Squared announced after Monday’s ruling that they would appeal the verdict. The event management company had been organizing the event for almost 20 years. The company insists that the 23rd edition of the festival will continue.
Speaking on behalf of C-Squared, Executive Chair Person Ben Moseme said, “C-Squared remains focused on ensuring that the project happens successfully. We are going ahead with the festival. As I said, it was not canceled. Remember, we did not appoint ourselves; the department appointed us. So, there is going to be an appeal.”
City Press reports that DS Consortium lodged an urgent court interdict a week before the festival was to kick off after the department awarded the multimillion-rand tender to C-Squared last month. The interdict was lodged to challenge the decision of the department, claiming irregularities in the awarding of the tender.
