This past weekend, the Lobatse “partying scene” was abuzz with excitement. It wasn’t over the usual kasi dissipation synonymous with “hotspots” like Dia-boa, the-Grand or Cumberland, where on weekends the golden waters flow like a perennial river, music booms non-stop and cider haggling cocottes mill about like ants. Fun-lovers were revved up because Uhuru of ‘y-tjukutja’ fame was set to grace the sleepy town.
If you’re in the dark, Uhuru is a popular house music quadrant from neighbouring South Africa. I had initially planned to attend the show with friends but became wary when I learnt that the entrance fee is P50. I don’t attend cheap shows. It’s not that ‘I like things’...I prefer to have fun with little chance of bumping into folk with smelly shoes, gyrating among snotty-nosed youngsters wiggling their crotches into mine or being “mistakenly” hit with a beer bottle because “that guy was aiming at that dude but you were dancing in the bottle’s way”. Secondly, charging P50 for a crowd-pulling act doesn’t make savvy business sense. Ele gore how much did Uhuru charge?! How much did the organizers pay to rent the sound system? How much did they pay the other acts? Will they break even? How much profit will they make?
