TENS of thousands of people flooded the streets of Cape Town for the annual Cape Town Street Parade also known as Tweede Nuwe Jaar Parade on Tuesday, 2 January.
Muneeb Gambeno, the organiser of the event and the director of the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association, said this year marked the 116th Tweede Nuwe Jaar celebration.
He said the celebration dates back centuries when there was slavery in the Cape.
Gambeno said during slavery, people were only allowed to take off and have fun on the second day of the year.
“The Tweede Nuwe Jaar celebration goes back to the 1800s when we still had slavery in the Cape, where our ancestors had an opportunity to have a day off after working for their slave masters.
"The point of today really is that people are in the City Centre celebrating a form of emancipation, perhaps not like our forefathers did when they were enslaved but certainly breaking free from the shackles and poverty of the townships,” he said.
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He said 26 troupes that took part in the event amounted to 20 000 participants, and he believes that more than 80 000 people attended the event. He said that the official figures of last year’s event saw more than 100 000 people coming out to the streets.
Some of the spectators who came out in their numbers said they couldn't miss out on the annual event.
Monique Van Wyk (56) from Vredenburg said she hasn’t missed out on the Tweede Nuwe Jaar since she was 16, except during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“I came with my family, and we're happy to be here. It's our tradition that every 2nd of January we attend this event. My grandmother used to tell me how her parents used to be abused during the slavery times. This is one way for me to pay tribute to them,” she said.
Jannette Amstrong (28) from Hanover Park said she attended the event because she loved the dances and the beautiful dresses of the troupes.
“If I don’t attend, I feel empty. I really enjoy and always attend with my friends,” she said.
