Practitioners in the entertainment sector are unhappy with the government for limiting the capacity for indoor events to just 250 people and 500 for outdoor events under lockdown level 1.
About a week ago, they marched to the Union Buildings to demand that President Cyril Ramaphosa allowed at least 70% capacity at all entertainment events.
President of the South African Creative Practitioners Union Hepter Mailula said: “The government does not seem to understand that what it has done will not improve the situation South African artists are crying about.
“To host an outdoor event costs a lot of money in the form of booking bands and the venues; 500 people are not enough to afford to pay for those services. I haven’t even spoken about the cost of paying the artists who will be performing.
“We do not welcome this adjustment as beneficial to South African artists, and in our letter to the Presidency we have requested a meeting with Ramaphosa so that we can explain in detail how our industry makes its money. We cannot charge 500 tickets at exorbitant prices just to afford to pay our costs; that won’t work.”
Radio personality, musician and spokesperson for Gauteng Entertainers Percy Sleash SA said: “We will continue to mobilise and march to the Union Buildings under the movement #VulaPresident because for us this is not enough.
“Our fellow artists are saying they still cannot afford to host events because in Tshwane it costs R35000 to pay for the emergency services at events and also monitor compliance.
“Nothing will be left when you’ve paid for the security, stage, sound, artists, and accommodation, cleaning services and sanitation services. That is why we are not happy.”
