A lot of shows which were slated to take place during the year have either been indefinitely postponed or cancelled entirely due to Covid-19. The question on many people’s lips is: Are these events ever going to take place?
Tim Ekandjo told Entertainment Now! that the Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMA) organising committee is waiting for the next stage of the lockdown to deliberate on the status of hosting the awards. “As we know now, events can be hosted provided the number does not exceed 50 people but we are waiting for the next stage of the lockdown to decide on the awards,” informed Ekandjo.
He also mentioned that voting for the Song of the Year category has been ongoing. The Song of the Year category is the only accolade where voters get to cast their votes until the night of the awards compared to other categories.
“We have been receiving votes for the Song of the Year category. But votes for the Pan-African artist ended on 30 May 2020,” stated Ekandjo.
The awards were scheduled to take place on 2 May 2020 at The Dome at the coastal town of Swakopmund. The uncertainty surrounding the hosting of events means until otherwise decided, the NAMA and other events will be put on hold and hosted when the time and opportunity presents itself.
There is doubt on whether the said venue will be appropriate since the government imposed a 14-day total lockdown of the entire region until 22 June.
With the stage, set-up and technical team mostly perfected by a lighting company from South Africa, it is uncertain whether borders will be open so that this company can bring their expertise and equipment to host the last installment of the NAMA.
“Furthermore, based on observation regarding the current lockdown in the Walvis Bay local authority area, members of the public are not adhering to lockdown measures. Therefore, the potential for community spread and the risk level for Walvis Bay and surrounding towns is high. This necessitates more stringent measures to curb the spread beyond Walvis Bay,” the President said in a televised address recently.
The chairperson of the organising committee of the annual Nama Cultural Festival, Dawid Eigub said the centenary, which was scheduled to take place from 21-24 May, has been cancelled for this year and postponed to May 2021. This allowed adherence to precautionary measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Other most celebrated events in the country’s social calendar include the Kasi Vibe Festival which only managed to be hosted once this year and unfortunately, after careful deliberation and planning on hosting their first fiesta outside Windhoek, they postponed their Easter Kuisebmond edition with dates to be communicated in due course.
Miss Namibia national director Conny Maritz has said, for the time being, Miss Namibia Pageant Venture (Pty) Ltd will not go ahead with arrangements for the crowning of Miss Namibia 2020 due to the pandemic.
“Until such an event can be organised, our lovely reigning Miss Namibia 2019, Nadja Breytenbach and the reigning Miss Teen Namibia, Schwane Blignaut, will continue to engage in public commitments and represent our sponsors,” stated Maritz.
Other events on hold include the Ngandu Festival, Burna Boy All Africa Tour, Windhoek Cultural Festival, Kapana Cook-Off Competition and Pop-Up Festival. “We were not going to host a festival this year but only have two Pop-Up Markets in Windhoek and one at the coast but that was all affected by the Covid-19. We will communicate more information when the green light has been given to host events for the masses,” said Nicla Dos Santos, the CEO and co-founder of the Pop-Up Festival.
Currently, stage 3 has allowed the reopening of schools and universities and public gatherings of up to 50 people is permitted.
Stage 4, again 28 days after stage 3, is planned as the full return to pre-pandemic regulations, which will maybe allow for any event to take place in the country based on measures to be announced. This stage is intended to last until there is a vaccine for the virus.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na