No Sun City For The SAMAs in 2016

The annual pilgrimage by the Jozi's A-listers, hanger-ons and fans to the North West for the South African Music Awards is set to hit a major blow this year. The SAMAs will not be held in Sun City this year. 

Following Sun International's multimillion rand refurbishment of Sun City, many big events have been moved from the venue. Our very own Miss SA pageant which has had Sun City as their official home going back over a decade, had to move the pageant to ... this year for the same reason. 

Unfortunately for those who see the SAMAs in North West as an opportunity to take a holiday out of Gauteng, this year they would have to settle for another venue. 

SAMA CEO Refiloe Ramogase told the Sowetan in January that it was unlikely that they will host the event in Sun City. He also confirmed that a date for the awards has yet to be finalised and that it won’t be April 2016.

According to Sun International the new revamped Entertainment Centre, which houses The Superbowl where events such as the SAMAs are held, will be re-imagined and rebuilt at a cost of R300-million.

No word yet from the SAMAs as to where the event will be held this year. The likely alternative is of course Carnival City. This works in that it retains the relationship between Sun International and the awards and it's in Gauteng where most of the awards' guests live anyway. 

On the negative side; SAMAs in GP have proven to be a total disaster if the events of the 2011 ceremony, held in Monte Casino, are anything to go by. This also means the casino loses on the revenue made from hotel bookings. The province loses as well because SAMAs tourists will not be visiting Bokone Bophirima. 

I always love the idea of having award shows out of Gauteng. It is always an great experience to see the public show entertainers some appreciation. No offence, but Joburgers are too jaded as far as celebrities are concerned. Everyone is a celeb, want to be a celeb or thinks he or she is a celeb here so there is very little love for such things as awards shows. 

My suggestion would be Tshwane, State Theatre. I still cant forget the amount of palpable ecstasy and jubilation the SAFTAs in 2010 when they were held there. It was sheer joy to see streets lined with fans screaming for our local stars. 

Side note; The City of Tshwane needs a PR win after that Nicki Minaj TribeOne mess. They need to prove that they are capable of bring fun to the city and organise it properly.

My second choice would be Freestate Province. Bloemfontein is a great little city and the people there are friendly. This would be a PR coup for all involved. The provincial tourism will get a boost, the city will get some good PR, local fans will get to see their fav stars, celebrities will get to see what it's like to be appreciated for your work... win  win win for everyone.

For me personally, Freestate has Golden Gate resort. I love that place!! And you dont have to spend the whole day to drive there.

The SAMAs just DO NOT belong in Gauteng!!!

UPDATE: As yet there is no official statement from RISA about the SAMA venue but there is a rumour doing the rounds that the event will be held on June 4th at Nkosi Albert Luthuli ICC in Durban.