This week, several of Cape Town’s iconic monuments including Table Mountain, the Civic Centre, City Hall, the Castle of Good Hope and the Cape Town Stadium were lit up red in support of the Light SA Red campaign.
Western Cape, South Africa (10 August 2020) – The campaign is aimed at raising awareness for the events industry, which has been badly affected by COVID-19, the subsequent nationwide lockdown and is calling for the national government to assist the sector through the crisis.
“The City, this week, received a request from the Light SA Red Campaign for assistance with lighting up the City Hall, Civic Centre, the Cape Town Stadium and Table Mountain. We provided permission for the use of lights on City Hall, the Civic Centre and the stadium while we also facilitated the lighting up of Table Mountain.”
The industry, comprising of freelancers, venues, theatres, companies and businesses have been unable to work since the blanket ban on all events, due to the Coronavirus, implemented in South Africa on 15 March 2020.
In early March, the first rumblings started that the South African Government would be implementing a range of measures to mitigate the risks posed by COVID-19 in South Africa. Companies in the events sector saw the first in a slew of event cancellations. Before we knew it, all schools were closed and gatherings greater than 50 people were banned. At that moment, every stakeholder in the events and theatre industry was forced to come to terms with the reality that the industry would be the first to feel the impact and would likely be the last to recover from the economic tsunami set off by the COVID-19 quake.
A team of event companies started talking about how they could raise awareness and so the “Light SA Red” campaign was born!
The City of Cape Town says that it was important to show support to this plight because the events industry is vital to Cape Town as it creates thousands of jobs.
“Without an operational events industry, many artists, production companies, venues and many other workers in the value chain remain in crisis and jobless. Over the last two months, the City has received distressing news from industry companies who have had to lay off staff, sell off assets to keep afloat or simply close down due to lack of income.
This should not be the case because we have seen around the world how innovation has enabled the event industry to go back to work safely. The local events industry also has fresh ideas on how they can resume while observing COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
This is a plea to the National Government to relax regulations relating to events in order to ensure the industry survives and thousands of people who rely on the sector for work can continue to make a living. As a regulator in the events space, the City of Cape Town will ensure that all health and safety protocols are in place for a safe return to events similar to how we have enabled the film industry to resume production in a safe environment.”
Light SA Red aims to draw attention to this crisis. The events industry is collectively creating a large scale campaign that takes place across South Africa and has an extensive media reach. For all those involved in this event, the action is to simultaneously light buildings and structures across the nation.
For more information, check out the “Light SA Red” website by clicking here.
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