Minstrels haul 'discriminating' City to court

THE City of Cape Town has been accused of “systematic discrimination” against minstrel associations outside the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association (KKKA) in a Western Cape High Court case challenging its refusal to issue permits for venues to host Tweede Nuwe Jaar (The Second New Year) and related cultural celebrations. 

The application, by the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) was brought on an urgent basis on Saturday and heard before the Western Cape High Court on Monday. 

They have asked the court to compel the City to provide a suitable venue for hosting minstrel competition events on January 1, 10, 17 and 24.

“The first event is scheduled for 1 January 2026, being only four days away from the date of this application. The Association's booking for Vygieskraal Stadium for 1, 10, 17 and 24 January 2026 was confirmed on 19 September 2025 and arbitrarily withdrawn on 22 September 2025, leaving the Association without a venue,” the CTMCA said.   

This was despite numerous requests and correspondence, including one dated October 31, 2025, November 11, 2025, November 21, 2025, and December 23, 2025. 

“The respondent (the City) has failed to provide an alternative venue or any meaningful assistance. The events on these dates form an integral part of the annual Minstrel cultural celebration, which cannot be postponed or rescheduled. If this matter is not heard urgently, the opportunity for the Minstrel community that fall under this association to hold their traditional January competitions will be permanently lost for 2026,” court papers read. 

The dispute unfolds against a backdrop of what is alleged to be years of systematic discrimination by the City against minstrel associations, a long-standing pattern of systematic discrimination by the respondent against minstrel associations other than the KKKA. 

“This pattern of discrimination has been documented over many years and is the subject of concurrent Equality Court proceedings which the applicant is instituting against the respondent (City).”  

The CTMCA detailed repeated refusals of venue permits at Athlone Stadium over several seasons, including the 2018, 2019 and 2020 minstrel competitions, with applications either rejected without reasons, deemed incomplete without explanation, or refused on “vague grounds” such as venue unavailability.

“For the 2019 season, applications were submitted for Athlone Stadium for dates in January and February 2019. On 17 October 2018, the application was deemed "incomplete" with no specifics provided. For the 2020 season on 14 March 2019, an application was submitted for Athlone Stadium. On 26 June 2019, the application was refused because the “venue is not available” with no reasons given.” 

The City did not respond to direct questions on allegations of systematic discrimination or why the venue permits were not provided. 

“The City will provide comment at the appropriate time,” the City said. 

Meanwhile, tensions are also high as many have expressed concern over plans to change the date and reroute the deeply rooted historic heritage event. 

On Christmas eve the City announced that its event permit office was currently reviewing an application for a revised route for the Cape Town Street Parade (Tweede Nuwe Jaar Parade) in 2026. The application had been received by the KKKA, they said, who applied for the march to go through the fan walk down Somerset Road and into DHL Stadium.

In response to the backlash, the City said they were not the custodian nor the organiser of the Tweede Nuwe Jaar event but were in support of the proposed changes. 

“The City cannot and does not decide on the route of the road march. After considering the reasons behind the decision and the route’s feasibility, the City has lent its support to the move on condition that the organisation submits plans for the proper management of the event route.  That application along with safety and logistical plans are in the final stages of scrutiny before a permit is issued.  The permit review process is still underway, and a decision will be made in the coming week once all the plans have been finalised,” the City said. 

The KKKA said the sustainability of the event was behind their plans and they were not aligned with any political party. 

KKKA’s Muneeb Gambeno said: “We have to deal with the City, the fact that the City is run by a political party that won the election, that is a function of that. We need a stadium, DHL stadium is the only thing that can work for us, now we need to couple a route with the stadium. If people are saying ‘we are unhappy, we don’t agree’,  it’s fine the facts are the facts but let’s listen to each other. What are the solutions? We are not married to any kind of idea. If this doesn’t work, no one is saying we can’t revert to the old route.”

Cape Times