The National Arts Festival is going nowhere.
That's according to festival CEO, Tony Lankester, who was commenting on a weekend report which said it was becoming increasingly difficult to justify the National Arts Festival remain in a decaying city.
Lankester was reportedly part of a meeting last week with Cooperative Governance Minister Zweli Mkhize and according to the report his concerns about the crumbling state of infrastructure in Grahamstown was echoed by business, education and community leaders who also attended the meeting.
But, in a statement on Monday, Lankester said contrary to the weekend reports there were no plans to move the National Arts Festival away from Grahamstown.
"It's our home and we're working very hard as part of an active and positive movement amongst citizens, businesses and institutions to get the City ready this influx of visitors that will come at the end of June," he said in a voice note to the media.
Lankester said bookings open on Monday and "the programme is one of our strongest yet".
Late last month about a thousand Grahamstown residents gathered in front of City Hall to voice their concerns about the bad state of roads, filth around town and the general decay of service delivery.
Police said at the time that about 200 taxis and private vehicles and some 500 protesters made their way into town to present their grievances to City officials.
