CT Minstrel Carnival Association calls for parade route to be declared a heritage site

The Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) says the traditional Tweede Nuwe Jaar event is a living act of resistance. 

While the parade is usually held on January 2, it was celebrated on Saturday because the 2nd fell on Friday, the Islamic Sabbath known as Jumu'ah. 

The parade, which doubled as a protest march, approached the provincial legislature to hand over its memorandum of demands. 

Among other demands, the association is calling for a free, street-based parade along the historic route and for the route to be formally recognised as a cultural heritage site. 

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The association also condemned what it described as the infiltration of gambling interests into their culture, after an online sports betting company was announced as the title sponsor for an event by another minstrel organisation, the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association. 

CTMCA PR officer Yagya Canfield explained that holding the parade on January 3 aligns with an agreement made with a previous administration.

"The then minister of sports, Ms Norma French, and then the mayor of Cape Town, Ms Patricia de Lille, who has signed an agreement that this Tweede Nuwe Jaar will happen on the second of new year.  If it was on a Friday, it will happen on the Saturday.”