Beyonce To Perform In Tshwane

Word is; If the Tshwane Metro gets its way, the multi-award winning superstar Beyonce could be performing in South African's capital next year. It would appear that our politicians' insatiable obsession with American celebs has no bounds.


Beeld reports that the Tshwane metro wants to bring the pop star Beyoncé to South Africa for next year's celebration of 20 years of democracy.

A report on the proposed Dinokeng festival, planned for September 2014 in Cullinan, was submitted to the Tshwane council for approval last week.

"Beyoncé has a huge number of supporters and will attract a big audience," the report said.

The festival, expected to cost around R45 million, would be modelled on the Glastonbury music festival held annually near Somerset in the UK.

Music promoter Justin van Wyk said he would not set foot in South Africa for less than R35 million.

According to the report, "if everything goes according to plan" the festival would generate marketing exposure worth about R8 billion and generate income of at least R200 million.

A lot of us love Bey but I can almost hear millions of starving South African who live in shacks and have no adequate medical care lamenting over this.

I work in this business and fully understand the power of marketing using celebrity clout. However I also understand that such venture have risks of not producing the results they promise.

Have we no faith in our artists that we would rather pay one person multimillion rands to perform 4 songs than to give our own the platform.

I know having Bey at that festival will raise its profile tremendously. I am also aware that she does not come cheap. If a promoter is already asking for R35 mil then you can imagine all the added costs of trasportuing and accommodating such a big star.

That aside, as a Bey fan, I can not claim that the idea of the Queen of entertainers coming to Mzansi is not  excited.

No official world yet about this rumours from the Tshwane Metro. For now fans can only hope, and the poor lament at the prospect of Beyonce performing in Mzansi.