Due to #FeesMustFall protests, the Johannesburg International Comedy Festival (JICF) is now set to take place early next year.
The festival was launched in Braamfontein last year.
The JICF would have brought a number of South African acts to the stage including John Vlismas, Celeste Ntuli, Donovan Goliath and Joey Rasdien, as well as other African acts such as Basketmouth from Nigeria, Eddy Kadi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Q Dube from Zimbabwe and Imran Yusuf of Kenya – but that’s not all! The festival would have also resurrected some of last year’s favourite shows such as Vernac Attack and Stand Up Africa, with a new comedy line-up of some old faces and some new comedy talent coming together on each individual show, however, this is not to be.
Bringing together comedic talent was the purpose of this festival and organiser Takunda Bimha’s aspirations was to create a festival that is of the same calibre as the Montreux Comedy Festival in Switzerland, but this has been dashed by the #FeesMustFall protests saga.
“We saw the protests spill over into the streets of Braamfontein and while no one was critically harmed, there was severe damage to property including one of the venues earmarked for the festival,” explained Bimha.
“Given that most of the festival venues are in Braamfontein, adjacent to Wits University, the ongoing nature of these protests, and with only two weeks left until the event, we’ve had to make the unenviable decision to postpone the festival. This was a difficult decision to make but we firmly believe that we’ve taken the appropriate measures to ensure the safety of all parties involved, including the international contingent of talent that will be travelling to our shores.”
Read: The road to the Johannesburg International Comedy Festival
