A week on from becoming the first South African act to headline Cape Town’s DHL Stadium, Grammy Award winner Zakes Bantwini has issued a statement on social media.
The statement, which was posted on Friday morning, saw Bantwini thanking everyone who supported him for the historic show. “Thank you for all the support on our first Abantu stadium event,” he shared on Instagram.
“We made history together, along with all those in attendance, the artists that performed, our stakeholders and partners, and everyone that supported us as we embarked on this journey.”
Bantwini also acknowledged the criticism from some attendees who expressed frustration about the bars being closed at some point due a cooling period enforced by the SAPS and various issues with hospitality, particularly in VIP.
“We are also aware of some challenges experienced in our beverage and hospitality offering and would like to extend our sincere apologies to those affected.
“Currently, we are in dialogue with stadium management to troubleshoot all aspects of the show.”
The 43-year-old added that once this internal process has concluded, he and his team will communicate measures to be taken for future editions of Abantu.
“Rest assured all of your feedback has been noted and well-received and we will implement the necessary changes to ensure that we provide concert goers with the service they expect and deserve from us.”
Attendees have since flooded the comments to share their views:
“As one of the disappointed people I really hope you guys do better as this is an amazing concept that a bad experience that we had may result in not supporting the show again,” commented @somilanathi.
@jenileenmckay added, “The performances was awesome just the way things was done from us not getting drinks and tht we can't leave tht just bad after all this drama it was awesome zakes was definitely on fire best part of the whole drama.”
Some users, like @lindaronoti, felt at ease after the apology: “I feel better after that apology part, I was very angry 😮”
Last Saturday’s concert marked the first instalment of the Abantu concert series and featured performances from the likes of Musa Keys, K.O, Major League DJz, Youngsta CPT, Ami Faku, Sun-El Musician and Nomcebo Zikode.