(Gift
of the Givers, in partnership with NAF, successfully sink a borehole outside
the Monument, home to South Africa's National Arts Festival)
Tony
Lankester, the CEO of the National Arts Festival, has issued the following
press release regarding the festival which will take place from June 27 to July
7, 2019:
As you are likely to have heard, our City,
Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) is currently experiencing the effects of a
severe drought that is the worst we’ve seen in 220 years. The effects have been
exacerbated by a largely inadequate and poorly maintained municipal
infrastructure and, as a result, a large number of our residents have been
battling to get water to attend to their everyday needs. It has been hard going
for the past few weeks and, predictably, there has been some media coverage of
the crisis.
In June we’re set to host the 45th edition
of the National Arts Festival in Makhanda and discussions have invariably
turned to the impact the drought will have on us. A few people have said they
might not attend the Festival, believing either that they will not have access
to water or that they will be an added burden on an already-fragile supply.
Some have even told me, or posted on social media, that they know the Festival
is either cancelled or moving to another city (PE seems to be the popular choice
of these wild speculators). None of that is true but, if you share concerns
about the impact, then this letter is for you.
Without going in to the long details of the
municipal water reticulation system, the City needs about 20 mega litres a day
of water. The drought has affected half our supply dependent on local rainfall
and, as a result, we only have access to the 10 mega litres that come from the
Orange/Fish River project. This capacity is in the process of being doubled,
but will only be completed in 2021.
A couple of weeks ago we were fortunate
enough to benefit from the intervention of the Gift of the Givers. Their team
has had a huge impact. They have been helping with short-term interventions,
such as supplying bottled water to residents. They are also drilling boreholes
at strategic points around the City to provide us with an alternative source of
water — a better and more sustainable solution.
So what does the water crisis mean for the
National Arts Festival?
Our first priorities are to make sure that
Festival visitors are safe and comfortable, and that their presence doesn’t
result in extra pressure on the limited supply of water. This is taking a lot
of work and planning, but we’re confident we’ll achieve both those things:
-We have a borehole, sunk in partnership
with Gift of the Givers, providing the Monument with 100 000 litres of water a
day. This will be enough to sustain the Festival’s main hub and the thousands
of people who visit it each day.
-We are establishing additional drinking
water stations at all our main venues.
-We will ferry water around town in tankers
to refill existing and new tanks at our venues so that, wherever Festival-goers
gather, there will be enough water to drink and basic hygiene can be followed.
This water will be sourced in a way that doesn’t impact on or diminish the
City’s scarce supply.
-We are working with local guesthouses and
the Rhodes University residences to ensure that there will be enough water for
our visitors to drink and to attend to their personal needs.
-We are working with Standard Bank and Gift
of the Givers to increase water capacity in the townships, particularly at
schools, so that residents do not experience a shortfall during the Festival
and can go about their daily lives comfortably and safely.
-Between now and June, we expect that a
further 20 boreholes will be sunk around town, adding millions of litres of
water daily into the system. All this water is being tested and will only be
used if it is declared pure and potable against the highest-possible quality
standards.
So our overriding message is that the town
and the Festival will have water. We’ve got this. And we need to reassure you
that you will not be an unwelcome burden on residents. In fact, your presence
will make a vital contribution to the local economy. Makhanda needs the
Festival — it boosts our GDP by R94-million annually, creating employment for
hundreds of people, many of whom have no other work during the year. Our
artists need you to support their work and reward the many thousands of hours
they’re spending rehearsing and preparing amazing shows. And, let’s face it,
right now all of us in South Africa need the Festival — an opportunity to find
each other through the arts, to laugh, to sing, to cry, and to be reassured
that, actually, our country is still an incredible place to live, work and
play. That’s what the Festival and the arts are all about — giving us all the
perspective we need to keep going, no matter how difficult things appear.
Since 1974, the Festival has played this
vital role. We survived the darkest days of the State of Emergency in the
1980s. We cheered on as our country peacefully emerged as a democratic nation.
Our artists have dealt with state capture, confronted the scourge of gender
violence, and found ways to tell touching, human stories of our people finding
each other and themselves. Our comedians make us laugh, our musicians inspire
us to move. Our artists paint and our writers pen beautiful, poignant,
insightful words about both the ordinary and the extraordinary. We’re not going
to let a drought rob us of all of that beauty.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “…in the mud
and scum of things / There always, always something sings.” And sing we will.
The show will go on.
We look forward to seeing you between the
27th of June and the 7th July! - Tony Lankester, National Arts Festival CEO
PS.
To keep in touch, please refer to the National Arts Festival website at
www.nationalartsfestival.co.za and watch out for the launch of the 2019
programme. Some shows are already open for booking, with more being added
before the full programme goes on sale, as usual, in early May. Follow #NAF2019
on our social media channels.
You can also link direct to the NAF site by clicking on the banner advert at the top of this page.
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