Thunder of hooves to get new soundtrack

THIS year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July is poised to create thousands of temporary jobs in KwaZulu-Natal, and one of the key players this year, The Ascots, is already looking beyond the horizon after pledging to make more investments in eThekwini’ entertainment industry in order to foster growth and development.

- AYANDA MDLULI and SIPHO JACK

Making its debut at this year’s July, The Ascots, which is a subsidiary of Aline Media Group has already pumped in a multimillion-rand investment to transform the race meeting's festival precinct into an international luxury lifestyle destination with global acts at its core.

For business partners Sipho Dlamini and Sibo Mhlungu, the project is more than a party. It is a calculated push to restore Durban's reputation as South Africa's most commercially lucrative entertainment weekend and to prove that the city can compete with Cape Town and Johannesburg on its own terms.

“We are not coming to Durban to import an event,” Dlamini told Daily News on Tuesday. “We are coming home to build one. Durban is not just a place of untapped potential; it is an extraordinary environment rich in culture, education, and family values.”

Mhlungu’s CV reads like an events passport: Johannesburg, the US, the UAE, and Europe. After years of producing large-scale shows abroad, he says returning to KZN feels urgent.

“I have seen what happens when a city decides its creative economy matters,” Mhlungu said. “Durban has the climate, the coastline, the people. What it has lacked is confidence and early planning. We want to change that.”

The duo points to the North Coast as proof of what is possible. Premium hospitality ventures such as Tightline, Tylers, and the Owners Office have, in their view, already shifted how outsiders see KZN’s market.

“We are drawing inspiration from that growth,” Dlamini said. “If private entrepreneurs can bet on luxury hospitality here, then we can bet on a luxury festival experience here too.”

The Durban July handicap, first run in 1876, is already a tourism heavyweight. Industry estimates put the race weekend's economic injection at close to a billion rand.