Minstrel Parade survival hinges on new route

RISING costs and fewer troupes are threating the traditional Tweede Nuwejaar Klopse Carnival, with the organisers announcing a drastic route change and change in format.

- TRACY-LYNN RUITERS

The traditional gathering at the Grand Parade and people lining Darling, Adderley and Wale streets to catch a glimpse of the Klopse will be no more. It will be especially devastating for the people of Bo-Kaap, who for years came with their chairs and umbrellas from early in the morning to book their seats along Wale Street up until Rose Street in Bo-Kaap to get the best view.

Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association (KKKA) director Muneeb Gambino told the Weekend Argus that the adjustments were made to protect the minstrel parade and safeguard its future. “If we don’t make these changes, the carnival could die out in the years to come,” Gambino said.

“We will be dropped off and walk right into Lower Chiappini Street, then into Somerset Road, under the underpass, and into DHL Stadium,” Gambino explained. He noted that bands will only start in Somerset Road during the Tweede Nuwe Jaar street parade, followed by the immediate start of the five-day competition at the stadium.

Gambino explained, the changes respond to rising costs and evolving troupe sizes.

“Before, we had about 40 troupes across Cape Town. Now we only have 14 competing troupes and three Atcha troupes. The carnival has become unaffordable. Transport alone can cost R8,800 per bus, per day, with one team spending up to R160,000,” he said.

Gambino emphasised that this is not a new route. “The formal carnival started as a competition in Green Point in 1907, not as a parade. Before that, teams would jol in their communities. Up into the 1980s, there was never a single route; teams took the shortest, most comfortable paths. Green Point has always been the cradle of the carnival.”