Poor Attendance At Tlatsa Lebala

Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday December 3, 2018 18:00

 

The stage was fantastic, the sound was topnotch, Kast had done his part but Batswana just could not attend his event. The people who had bought stall spaces to push their businesses were clearly distraught.  The security was there waiting to manage what was supposed to be a large crowd but they had nothing to do than idle around the park. The young men who provided photography services at the VIP entrance said they had been there since 12 noon but it was approaching 12 midnight and still there was no development on their side. The food truck that was there waiting to fill Batlatsi’s stomachs, there was no one there to consume. Normally, at that time, the bar would be crowded but there was no one requesting a drink from the bar man and the bar tender had counted his losses in time.

Nothing was happening so Showtime team headed to the popular local bar in Oodi village where the number of people were probably 10 times more than the Tlatsa Lebala patrons.

It was approaching 11pm and the bar was just about to close. Batswana are known for attending music festivals after the bars have closed but this was different.  Some people there were not even aware that there is Tlatsa Lebala nearby. Some had already made plans to spend their time in places like Modipane.

After the popular drinking hole closed the Showtime team headed back to Tlatsa Lebala hoping that the atmosphere would have changed now that the bars had closed, however they found that the situation had worsened and it was already past midnight and no artist had performed except the DJs.

The number of people had then reduced to 12 and the event was not heading to a disaster, it was a disaster. Some gospel artist came on stage and blamed the lack of attendance on the fact that people had not prayed for the success of Tlatsa Lebala.

By 2am in the morning DJ Sly hit the decks and he was probably not used to a small crowd like that. Kast was nowhere around. Interestingly Kast’s Tlatsa Lebala was held on the same day as South African rapper Cassper Nyovest’s Fill up Moses Mabhida. Kast’s idea was initially inspired by Cassper Nyovest who filled up the dome in 2016.

It is reported by South African media that Cassper Nyovest could not fill the stadium due to rain but he attracted more than 22,000 people compared to Kast’s 20 people if we were to round it to the nearest 10. 

The show business is a difficult area but Kast had high hopes to benefit from Batswana’s sympathy especially after his altercation with the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Thapelo Olopeng. Efforts to reach Kast for a reaction proved futile at the time of going to press as his mobile phone was off.