C-Tone Productions held a successful 4th edition of the Africa Unite Cultural International Festival (AUCIF) at East London over the weekend, thousands joined in song and dance from award-winning local and international musicians.
On its 4th edition and the 1st to be held outdoors, the organizers of AUCIF took a bold step when deciding to host the event at a stadium, especially post the COVID lockdown that left revellers finding entertainment through virtual events that turned out to be cheaper and safe from bad weather.
Thousands of revellers left their warm and comfortable seating rooms and braced the windy and rainy weekend weather all in the name of celebrating our rich heritage and embracing the Africanism is us.
Event Director and founder Luzuko Khohli expressed “gratitude to the people that supported us in our first outdoor event. We are extremely excited about this huge turnout that has surpassed our expectations despite the challenging windy and rainy weather.”
Khohli says the event would not have been a reality without the support from the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, the National Arts Council, the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency and Buffalo City Metro.
On the entertainment, Metro FM Award-Winning artist Zuko-SA was excited to perform in front of what he called an “excited audience”. Zuko-SA further added that the theme of the event is very important to society as a means to bridge unity amongst Africans.
Lindo Mtamgayi of Usirayeli akaqedwa had her performance during a rainy period. “Wow, as much as it was rainy and windy, this audience received me well and engaged on my set. I love them, they made my performance electric” she said.
Speaking for the municipality, Economic Development and Agencies Portfolio Head, Councillor Sixolisiwe Ntsasela said “As the municipality, we are happy about the turnout and mixture of both young and old people. We hope that as a municipality we can be able to support this event on the 5th instalment because many people benefit financially from these events”. She went on to express their gratitude to law enforcement agencies for having managed to maintain law and order during the duration of the event.
“We came here to entertain our people, unfortunately, the weather was not so much on our side, but we still believe people had fun and we thank them for their support. What is important though, is that we acknowledge that we had some challenges and gaps that we need to fix the next time around” said Khohli. “These gaps will be looked into as my team and I have our review session.” Khohli went on to thank the entire AUCIF team from “the marshals, to security. The waiters and waitrons, our service providers, artists, VOC and everyone who supported me. But most importantly, thank you to the revellers who paid to attend the event. AUCIF appreciates you”.
