Klopse run into a roadblock

Come the first week of January, the streets of Cape Town might not be as awash with the sights and sounds of the Kaapse Klopse as they usually are.

The streets of the Mother City might also not be as colourful as they were yesterday during the Day of Reconciliation road show.

The Tweede Nuwe Jaar festival is celebrated on January 2 every year, and if it falls on a Friday it is shifted to a Saturday out of respect for the Malay troupes, made up mostly of Muslims. Friday is the holy day of the week for the Muslims, which means they attend mosque on this day.

But next year, Saturday January 3 is the prophet Mohammed's birthday and an Islamic holiday.

This means yesterday's road show, during which troupes marched out of the Bo-Kaap and made their way through the centre of town, will be the last event of the festive season, and not the precursor to the Tweede Nuwe Jaar, an annual highlight.

"The minstrels respect each other's religions," said Kader Miller, marketing director of Santam District 6, one of the minstrel groups.

"When there is a march on a Friday, we agree not to walk on that day and we also agree not to walk on a Sunday for the sake of the Christians."

This year, he said, "because the Saturday is the day of the birth of the prophet, we will not participate for religious reasons".

But according to Kevin Momberg, spokesman for the Cape Town Minstrels Carnival Association, "the issue has been resolved".

"It will go ahead on Saturday January 3 as planned. We heard some indication of troupes being worried about the date, [but] we have had no official communication from them," he said.

"At the end of the day it is a cultural , not a religious thing, and although we respect the Muslim religion, we cannot deny other people who want to march ."

The march could not be moved to the Monday as the festival competition took place at Cape Town Stadium, which was not available that day.