Want to go to Plett Rage? You'll have to be vaccinated and have a negative Covid-19 test
'We are going to require everyone to have been vaccinated before they come,' says Ronen Klugman, founder and owner of the end-of-matric festival
Plett Rage organisers are confident the famous end-of-matric festival will go ahead in December.
Ronen Klugman, founder and owner of the student festival, said they will require that a person be vaccinated to attend.
“We are going to require everyone to have been vaccinated before they come. We feel that it's our responsibility to make sure that people are safe,” he said. Safety was vital, said Klugman, to “unlock the entertainment industry”.
A post-matric Rage Festival event in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, was identified as a super-spreader event after nearly 1,000 cases of Covid-19 were linked to it in 2020.
Another of the safety measures in place, said Klugman, was that those attending would have to produce a negative Covid-19 test to gain access.
“In addition, certain things that we can do that are in our control include a negative test on arrival — a negative PCR test. We want the consumers to know their status and not spread Covid-19. We will test all our suppliers and everyone working at the rage,” he said.
Though they don't yet have permission to host the event, Klugman was adamant that organisers would adhere to all government regulations.
“We don’t have permission to trade yet. We intend to trade subject to the country being unlocked at a certain level, and that would hopefully be 350 [people] in an outdoor gathering.
“What we realised is that if we didn’t try to commit to trying to host the festival, there wouldn’t be a chance to get it off the ground. So we put out a statement to our consumers saying that we intend to trade and we need them to preregister to purchase tickets so that we can understand how big the demand is.
“We did that two-and-a-half weeks ago and there are quite a lot of people that signed up to preregister and purchase tickets. Our tickets go on sale in September,” he said.
The event has been split into two separate four-day events to keep numbers low and would adhere to Covid-19 restrictions. Numbers will be limited per weekend.
“This year Plett Rage will be hosted as two separate four-day long weekends. Weekend 1 taking place from December 3-6, encompassing the spirit of Bass Cabin. Weekend 2 taking place from December 8-11, the heart of our main stage,” he said in a Facebook post.
Klugman said if the event is not held, ticket holders will be refunded excluding booking fees.
“Our tickets are fully refundable — those get fully refunded if we can’t host the event and the decision not to host the event is taken a month before we are supposed to trade.”
He said calling off 2020 was one of the most challenging and gut-wrenching decisions they had to make, “But without doubt, the right one — though it had huge implications for our company and the team behind SA's favourite coastal student festival.
“We've arrived at what we believe to be the best option, ensuring a Plett Rage experience that the 20 years before you have come to love and expect, as well as fit within the most likely summer restrictions.”
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