Athlone Stadium was swamped over the weekend as Kapenaars made their way to the popular Voice of the Cape radio station’s three-day festival.
However, some mense have pakked uit after they experienced difficulties on Saturday, including one ma who said a fun ride broke while kids were on it, while scores had to queue for an hour or longer at the gates only to be told they could not enter.
They expressed their anger on social media after they couldn’t get into the stadium as the event was over capacity, even though some had pre-paid tickets.
Following the outcry, the Daily Voice was referred to several organisers, including festival convenor Muhamad Zain Majiet, but none were available for comment on Sunday before going to press.
In a Facebook post, he explained that the gates were closed on Saturday evening by the City of Cape Town for safety purposes.
“At about 6pm, we were alerted that there were too many people inside. So it was beyond our control when it was shut down,” Majiet wrote.
According to the City, the event was permitted as a “low-risk event for 3 000 people”. “This was the number the event organiser had applied for in the permit application,” the City explained.
“However, during the event, the number of patrons had exceeded this to around 4 500.
“After a meeting between City officials and the festival safety officer, a decision was taken to give an allowance to increase the numbers to 7 000.”
The City said that the numbers later rose to around 9 000 patrons, which required Voice of the Cape to manage entry into the venue as capacity had been reached.
“Gates for the event opened at 10am as stipulated in the event permit and the event finished at 11pm, the time it was planned to end. Therefore, it is important to note that the event was not shut down.”
Mom Shihaam Mentor said she had the worst experience at the fun fair.
“The big wheel, one of the carts you get into, came loose and gashed a hole into the operator’s head,” she explained.
“He lost control of the leaver and two kids’ cart tilted, leaving them screaming in the air.
“They eventually got the kids down and these two operators wanted to continue loading people; obviously people objected and we got our kids down eventually.”
Majiet has apologised on behalf of the station for the inconvenience: “From all of us at the Voice of the Cape, we apologise.
“We know it was inconvenient for people who were looking forward to spending last night [Saturday] in our company.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za