By Phumzile Ndlovu
MALKERNS– The biggest sponsorship to date.
The Prime Minister Russell Dlamini praised the mobile company MTN for sponsorship of E5 million towards the MTN Bushfire Festival.
Last year’s sponsorship was E3.6 milion from the title sponsor.
This was at the launch of the 17th edition of the festival that was held on Friday at House on Fire, Malkerns. This year’s launch was also graced by Deputy Prime minister Thulisile Dladla, Minister for Tourism and Environmental Affairs Jane Mkhonta-Simelane, Minister for Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Bongani Nzima, as well as European Union (EU) Ambassador to Eswatini Dessislava Choumelova.
The Prime Minister thanked the title sponsor as highlighted that it was massive. The sponsorship was announced by MTN CEO Wandile Mntshali.
Dlamini shared that this was first time being at the launch of the festival. “I felt I was not dressed properly for this momentous occasions, but was happy to see others also wearing ties. I would like to thank MTN for sponsorship of E5 million, which is the biggest sponsorship ever. I do not think any company has matched the amount before,” Mntshali said.
This years festival theme is Fireworks, it will be held on May 31-June 02 at Malandela in Malkerns. The 17th edition of the festival will see an increased Golden Lounge and Main Arena space, even more stages and plenty of opportunities to Bring Your Fire are some of the features to look forward to at the festival.
The MTN Bushfire team elaborated on the sustainable developments that the festival would be introducing this year as part of its long-standing commitment to staging a responsible event and its continuous efforts to improve the festivalgoer experience.
This year, the Main Arena has been considerably extended while the Golden Lounge has almost doubled in size and now incorporates garden walks through some of the indigenous vegetation at Malandela’s. The campsite environments have been greatly expanded too, with even more permanent ablution facilities. More parking space has been added to the festival and will remain as paid parking to encourage car-pooling in order to lower traffic congestion and carbon emissions.
Perhaps most exciting of all, the festival will boast eight stages this year! Apart from the revered Main Stage, Amphitheatre and Ballantine’s Firefly stages, the newly-added Bring Your Fire Zone stage will enjoy a full programme, and this year the KidZone also gets a stage in its new, expanded area. On top of all this, festival partners Corona, Heineken and Jägermeister and will all bring their fire with three performance and entertainment stages. Festivalgoers will have to prepare for a wide-ranging feast of music to suit every taste, and the MTN Bushfire festival app is recommended for scheduling the acts that guests will want to see.
These are just some of the highlights of the wealth of fresh experiences awaiting festivalgoers in 2024, complementing the festival’s celebration of diversity, spirit of inclusion and atmosphere of tolerance that keeps festivalgoers – also known affectionately as Fire Starters – coming back year after year.
Festival Theme
