‘Apartheid’ At Cheetah Festival

PLEASE allow me a space in your newspaper to air my concern over Otjiwarongo Cheetah Festival which was organised in June by the Otjiwarongo Tourism Forum.

Initially it was a concept to attract potential investors to Otjiwarongo and expose the opportunities we can offer. However the end result of the so called Cheetah Festival was just another form of apartheid and racism which was orchestrated to only benefit the minority (whites) on the expense of the black masses.My rationale for calling it this is based on the fact that the black participating cultural groups received a different, discriminating, inhuman and insulting treatment.The occasion was organised so strategically that the black groups were performing at a separate location at the ‘white elephant’ museum rather than at the main venue (open space next to the town Municipality) where the white groups were performing.The main venue was where most of the activities and people were concentrated.This was indeed a local investment centre for the festival.Black groups on other side were not even attended by the organisers and worst of all, no-one, apart from the participating groups themselves turned up at the so called museum.How did the black community benefit from the so-called festival apart from being used to eyeblind the local politicians and waste their time and energies? The level of community involvement from the initial stages of the whole organisation is questionable if the festival was indeed aimed at benefitting the entire Otjiwarongo.After consultations with the organisers, one of the black groups was told to perform at the main venue, but when they turned up at the main venue they were again told that there was no place organised for them to perform.It must be clear that we are raising this issue for the sake of protecting national reconciliation and for the peace and stability to prevail in Namibia.To this end, I call upon the local politicians to look into this matter.Concerned Youth OtjiwarongoHowever the end result of the so called Cheetah Festival was just another form of apartheid and racism which was orchestrated to only benefit the minority (whites) on the expense of the black masses.My rationale for calling it this is based on the fact that the black participating cultural groups received a different, discriminating, inhuman and insulting treatment.The occasion was organised so strategically that the black groups were performing at a separate location at the ‘white elephant’ museum rather than at the main venue (open space next to the town Municipality) where the white groups were performing.The main venue was where most of the activities and people were concentrated.This was indeed a local investment centre for the festival.Black groups on other side were not even attended by the organisers and worst of all, no-one, apart from the participating groups themselves turned up at the so called museum.How did the black community benefit from the so-called festival apart from being used to eyeblind the local politicians and waste their time and energies? The level of community involvement from the initial stages of the whole organisation is questionable if the festival was indeed aimed at benefitting the entire Otjiwarongo.After consultations with the organisers, one of the black groups was told to perform at the main venue, but when they turned up at the main venue they were again told that there was no place organised for them to perform.It must be clear that we are raising this issue for the sake of protecting national reconciliation and for the peace and stability to prevail in Namibia.To this end, I call upon the local politicians to look into this matter.Concerned Youth Otjiwarongo