Khayelitsha Festival gains city support

Scheduled to take place over four days during October at the Oliver Tambo Hall in Khayelitsha, the festival will focus in travel and tourism, health, beauty and fashion, food, beverage and nutrition, leisure and lifestyle.

The hallmark event aims to help build the community's social and economic fabric and draw together business, SMMEs, youth, community organisations and consumers to celebrate Khayelitsha's richness and diversity on an annual basis.

“The Khayelitsha Festival has the potential to become a powerful renewal and transformation vehicle because it is based on the goals of economic and social transformation and development,” said Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Development and Tourism, Simon Grindrod.

“As the largest event of its kind in the Western Cape, it could act as a powerful force in bringing the first and the second economies of Cape Town together.”

The festival aims to celebrate entrepreneurship, leadership, empowerment and cultural creativity.

Khayelitsha is a Presidential Urban Renewal node with over 400,000 inhabitants and over 100,000 residential units.

About 26% of the city's unemployed are located in this area, while 2.5% are employed in the formal sector and 6.7% in the informal sector.

“It is imperative that access to business information, career guidance, promotion of work opportunities and the stimulation of an entrepreneurial culture be promoted through the Khayelitsha Festival,” said Grindrod.

The city's support includes R20,000 for the venue hire; R200,000 for the SMME exhibition; R30,000 for a business summit; R30,000 for a coach tour to showcase local tourism and business opportunities; R120,000 for the non-governmental organisation exhibition; and R400,000 to subsidise municipal services such as traffic control, electricity, water, cleansing and Metro Police services.