DA: Wasted R65 Million On TribeOne Should Be Investigated

Following the sudden cancellation of the TribeOne music festival last week, the Democratic Alliance has said that an investigation regarding the wasted R65 million needs to be done.

According to the Mail & Guardian, the DA has urged the auditor general to look into the significant amount of money which the City of Tshwane had spent in preparation for the festival, which was set to feature international acts Nicki Minaj, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Kid Ink and J Cole.

“This is a gross mismanagement of public funds as it reported that some of the funds are nonrefundable,” said DA MP Kevin Mileham in a statement. “R25-million alone was spent on paying performing artists, yet some have not yet received any money.” The City Press newspaper reported that the City of Tshwane had run up a R65-million bill for the TribeOne music festival which was cancelled on Thursday. 

The amount spent included a non-refundable appearance fee of R10-million for US rapper Nicki Minaj; as well as R40-million on infrastructure upgrades at the venue – an empty plot – in Cullinan. A battle between the festival organisers and the city is now set to take place in the high court in Pretoria on Monday. 

On Thursday, 18 September, the event organisers, Rockstar 4000 said that the event was cancelled due to conflict with the City of Tshwane, and posted a statement on the TribeOne’s Facebook page confirming the cancellation.

“The site preparation and related infrastructure development required to host the Festival, being the responsibility of the CoT, fell behind schedule to a material extent, such that it was no longer realistically possible to stage and deliver the Festival to the scale and quality that the organizers had always planned. (sic)”