Macufe Festival set for comeback in 2025
The Free State MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture & Recreation, Zanele Sifuba has announced that the Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe) will be making a comeback in 2025.
MACUFE to Return in 2025, Confirms MEC Zanele Sifuba. Picture credit: X
JOHANNESBURG - One of South Africa's largest festivals is making a comeback.
The Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe), according to Free State MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture & Recreation Zanele Sifuba, will return in 2025.
In August, Sifuba announced during her budget vote speech for the 2024/2025 fiscal year that the Macufe Festival in the Free State would remain suspended despite being cleared of all infractions.
Many people in the Free State are angry about Macufe's suspension as well as the departure of important provincial soccer teams like the Bloemfontein Celtics and Free State Stars. Due to their ability to create jobs and increase tourism, the festival and the soccer teams were viewed as essential to the province's economy.
As a major source of economic activity in the Free State, Macufe brings in millions of rands for nearby companies each year with its over 16,000 annual visitors. Significant economic benefits of the festival were noted in a 2009 – 2015 University of the Free State study, especially for the hospitality industry.
Sifuba did, however, call on the public to support two future events in Mangaung, the Lemo Festival and the CUFA Festival, which had been set in the customary Macufe dates, in a video that surfaced on X last week.
The Macufe African Cultural Festival brought the deep rhythm and soulful beat of October to Bloemfontein every year for years.