Councillors 'to drink for free'
2008-10-01 09:03
Potchefstroom - Councillors from the Tlokwe city council will get free beer and soft drinks at the Aardklop Arts Festival hospitality centre, in order to placate them.
All other sponsors's representatives will have to pay.
This follows a request by a senior council official for "an arrangement" to be made in order not to insult councillors.
"We all know that not all the councillors are supportive of the festival and we don't want to make them unhappy," the official told Chris Redelinghuys, manager of the hospitality centre, within earshot of Beeld.
The council has expressed its dissatisfaction on various occasions in the past, because it regards the festival as not inclusive enough.
Redelinghuys offered to open an account for the councillors so that they wouldn't need to pay at the bar.
The official said "that would be a better idea", but that it would have to be monitored really carefully.
Acknowledgement
The official also asked Redelinghuys to give the council the "necessary" acknowledgement by, among others, addressing the chief whip and the Speaker's by their correct titles when they arrived at the hospitality centre, which is situated in the central festival area and only open to selected guests invited by the sponsors.
Marguerite Robinson, Aardklop's programme manager, told Beeld on Monday that "everybody pays for some of the drinks".
When asked whether councillors would have to pay for beer, for example, like the rest of the sponsors, she said: "I don't see the relevance of this question. Why would your readers care?"
Festival spokesperson Sunet van der Merwe said all the sponsors would be treated in the same way.
"The juice, wine, coffee and tea are free. For other drinks, like beer, hard liquor and soft drinks, everybody has to pay a nominal fee."
She denied that special arrangements had been made for the city council.
But Magriet Hefer, a spokesperson for Tlokwe city council, said councillors would not be paying for any of the drinks at the hospitality centre.