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=Tsumeb Copper Festival=

Introduction
Tsumeb is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. At the same time we will be hosting our 3rd Copper Festival from 29 September 2005 to 2 October 2005. The Tsumeb Municipal council has agreed that the anniversary celebrations be incorporated into the Copper Festival programme.

Objectives
To create a social platform for all stakeholders to interact. Looking at the second objective, to create an economic platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services. As I see it, the copper festival has become a convenient, fun-packed and paid outing for large corporate companies to make a quick buck from the people of Tsumeb. I did not see a single Tsumeb entrepreneur, except of course the shebeen owners. The third objective, to provide a platform to market the town as a tourism and investment destination, brought tears to my eyes, not from being sad, but from laughter. I have watched tourists fleeing this town as quickly as they can during the time of the copper festival. Overhearing some of their conversations, everyone seems to be wondering what was going on, since there were so many drunk and rowdy people all over town. Not to mention the countless broken bottles and filth strewn all over town and our parks. That surely must create a platform for tourism. The only investment opportunity would be for Alcoholics Anonymous to open up a permanent branch here, and of course cleaning services, and tyre resellers to replace all our cut tyres.

To provide diverse forms of entertainment to the residents and friends of Tsumeb. That they surely did. Except for keeping everybody within a kilometer radius out of their sleep, we had the privilege to watch cars flying through out fences and landing up in our sewerage works. Now that is entertainment like no other. Looking at the last objective, to attract more people into town in order to stimulate business activities and income generation. Now this is the tricky one. In the one hand the festival succeeded brilliantly in accomplishing this, but in the other hand, one would have to ask the question who really benefited from this. Our petrol stations surely, some accommodation establishments. And I am not considering the corporate businesses like the banks and telecommunication service providers which take the money out of town, I am talking about the businesses of Tsumeb. Nope, the only real moneymakers here would be the license holders of the shebeens and food shacks at the Copper Festival, the so-called lucky few.

Profits
Tsumeb’s annual Copper Festival at the end of October and beginning of November in 2011 helped restore the town’s image, and saw the corporate community lending a hand to add to the success. A recent chartered examination of the Tsumeb Copper Festival accounts shows that the organisers, led by Julius Gaeseb, were able to pocket the mining town a pretty penny late last year bringing home a neat N$68 000 clean profit on top of their modest opening balance of a little more than N$5 000. The balance brought forward to November 2011 for the town’s Copper Festival account with FNB was a healthy N$73 821. In 2011 the annual Copper Festival benefited greatly from the corporate community with the likes of Namibia Custom Smelters, Metropolitan, MTC and Hangala Investments all spending at least N$10 000 on the event each. Stall sales were healthy and a variety of entrepreneurs kept payments of different sizes rolling in. Total income on the account reached a remarkable N$343 000 although expenses ate up a good N$270 000 of that. The biggest expense accounted for was S&T allowances paid totaling just over N$32 000. This amount includes payments made for S&T expenses which occurred in Windhoek, Ongwediva and mostly in Tsumeb, the report reveals. Immediate cash expenses cost the committee over N$26 000. A two part payment to Komesho General Dealer of a just over N$21 000; N$19 000 for STI Decor and catering, and N$16 000 for the prizes for the sports at the festival also costs the committee dearly. Chartered accountant Immanuel Awene has advised the Tsumeb municipality that the festival could be even better if certain weaknesses in procedures and controls are addressed. In particular, the failure to secure funds pledged to the festival amounting to more than N$86 000 has had a significant effect on the Copper Festival account. He also pointed out that money received is not banked fast enough and that certain specialized functions like the printing of t-shirts should have been outsourced. It was recommended that the municipally invest in some better accounting software to save time. The accountant also noted a lack of supporting documentation for smaller expenses like air-time and dinners, and observed that the minutes of committee meetings were not made available for accounting purposes.

Fun
The Copper festival, promises to add more fun for the kids and also more of sports activities lined up. MTC has sponsored a soccer match between brave warriors and another team to be yet announced. There will also be a boxing bonanza for upcoming boxers to showcase their talents.

Sponsors
Namibia Customs Smelter was the main sponsor of the festival with additional funds set aside for the best small business idea. Metropolitan Namibia, the Shali Group and Namibia Breweries Limited were the other sponsors. Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau, said the festival was again a reminder of the survival spirit among Tsumeb people. "You continue initiating means to remain thriving even in difficult economic times. Keep it up," said Esau.

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