Clowns hope to have red noses rather than red faces

Queen Victoria, Bartolomeu Dias and Dick King may soon have something in common - a bright red nose, if a bunch of clowns have their way.

The eThekwini municipality is still to decide whether their statues will be wearing red noses on Sunday.

As part of celebrations for the 20th anniversary of Clowns without Borders, the local branch hopes to adorn statues in Durban with plastic noses and entertain passers-by.

But the clowns, who aim to lighten children's hearts, have not yet received permission for this from the city.

Sibongile Tsoanyane, a juggler, singer, storyteller and clown, said the group planned to bring out at least 1000 red noses in Paris, Brussels, Dublin, New York, Stockholm, Helsinki, Portland, Montreal, Munich and London.

"We have chosen a few statues in Durban," Tsoanyane said.

"We really hope that we get permission because the commemoration highlights the importance of entertaining children ... to help children to be children again," Tsoanyane said.

She said there would be many sad clowns if permission was denied. "We can't go ahead with it because we fear being arrested."

The head of the eThekwini parks, leisure and cemeteries department, Thembinkosi Ngcobo said the clowns would not be arrested.

"It won't get to that level. The event is something that is going to be happening," he said.