BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
MALKERNS – If you missed out on this year’s MTN Bushfire Festival that was held over the weekend, then it’s time to start planning for next year as the dates have been revealed.
The 17th edition of the massive show, hailed by CNN as the seventh must-attend festival, recorded at least 20 000 daily attendees for the three-day festival, which kicked off on Friday and ended yesterday.
The dates for next year’s festival are May 30 and June 1, 2025. It will be held at the scenic Malandelas in Malkerns.
In his closing speech yesterday, the Festival Director Jiggs Thorne thanked everyone who came to attend this year’s festival, as well as his team, for making the festival possible and successful. He said, Thank you for bringing your fire to MTN Bushfire 2024. Save the date and #BRINGYOURFIRE once again May 30–June 1, 2025. Siyabonga.”
The festival wrapped up with an eye-catching performance by South African dance queen Makhadzi, who took to the main stage at 8 p.m.
This year was the biggest festival as new stages were added, more parking was allocated, and more corporate stalls were on site at the festival.
It also saw 4500 campers who put up the camping site, which opened on Thursday. The campsite is usually for international festivalgoers and locals who don’t want to travel during the three-day festival. This year also saw panellists from across the globe take on the MTN Bushfire Art Round Table on Friday. . The panellists shared their knowledge on how to monetize the music and art industries.
It is worth mentioning that the gates to this year’s festival opened at 4.04 p.m. with excited festivalgoers who couldn’t wait to enter the venue.
This year has several stages, namely the Main Stage, Amphitheatre Stage, Ballantine’s Stage, Bring Your Fire Zone, The Barn, Amphitheatre, and Heineken Stage.
The first performance at this year’s edition was by the band Madalitso from Malawi. The duo’s performance kicked off at 6 p.m. at the Amphitheatre Stage on Friday. The first act to perform on the Main Stage was Seba Kaapstaad at 7 p.m.
Also worth noting is that this year, travel was made easier for drivers to ease traffic congestion, as the road leading to the festival grounds was ‘converted’ to be one-way to make travelling easier for motor vehicles and to ease up the traffic.
Also noted was that Eswatini TV has also put a makeshift studio at the venue where they are broadcasting. The TV station has guest presenters from neighbouring countries, namely the Black Chinese Guy, South African media personality William Lehong, and Zambia’s Diamond TV host and content producer, Kasonde Wellingtone, through their Kulture Xchange programme.
