The 2020 Cape Town Street Parade organisers are expecting 45 klopse troupes from four different carnival associations to make an appearance at the annual Tweede Nuwe Jaar street jol on Saturday.
We spoke to some of the troupe leaders to find out what mense can expect from them in 2020.
Mitchells Plain All Stars
Mitchells Plain All Stars
Anwar Gambeno is the troupe leader of the Mitchells Plain All Stars and says the 600-member team is looking forward to the big day.
“We’re not one of the biggest troupes but we are one of the best,” he reckons.
“We are looking forward to showcasing our team at the Cape Town Street Parade.
“The road march is one of our proud traditions, back then we walked from the Good Hope Centre, which we called the Old Market in the old days, we would walk to the Green Point Stadium.”
Anwar says they are ready to don their famous turquoise, yellow and white gear for competition.
Playaz
Jerome Morgan, founder and executive member of Playaz based in Woodlands, says their striking gear is sure to catch the eye on 4 January.
“We are wearing red, white and black this year, our pants has a diamond pattern so we are going to look gevaarlik for road march.”
The Playaz, who only started out in 2018, will have a “02” printed on their backs to mark their second year in the carnival competition.
The new kids on the block came third in the KKKA competition last year, not bad for a rookie team.
Playaz
This year the team of 1200 members will compete in Section 1 of the KKKA competition at Athlone Stadium.
Jerome says: “We’re looking forward to our singing, which we concentrated on more because 90% of the competition is singing.
“Our jingle squad is the best and every team will copy what we started last year.
“We are going out there to win this in our second year, no doubt about that. We’ve worked since March this year.
“Our directors put in a lot of time and money. I take my hat off to them and especially to the ladies helping us. Without them, I don’t know if it would have been
possible.
“Like the Jingles squad says, ‘Charlotte kom haalit’.”
Fabulous Woodstock Starlites
Ebrahim Ismail, leader of the Fabulous Woodstock Starlites, says with new teams emerging, his troupe has gotten smaller, but that doesn’t take anything away from their historic 14 Carnival Kings titles.
“Since we started, we won the carnival 14 times, which is different to other teams,” he notes.
“We were once the biggest team, but with so many new teams starting off, we lost members over the years.”
“We will be 50 years old in two years’ time and currently have 520 members.”
The team’s gear is red, yellow and white
Fabulous Woodstock Starlites
Cape Town Hawkers
Sulaiman Poromano is the leader of the Cape Town Hawkers, which boasts 700 members.
Sulaiman says they are excited to show off their cerise, turquoise and black gear at the CTSP.
“We want to showcase our culture, our tradition is the Tweede Nuwe Jaar jol and we’re looking forward to seeing all the people enjoying our show.”
In its 33 years in existence, the team has won the carnival thrice.
“We are kwaai in our singing and field events, we know these are our strengths.”
Cape Town Hawkers
West London All Stars
Noohr Nel is the Chairperson of West London All Stars, who won the 2019 Section 1 carnival title.
“Our slogan this year is ‘ ons gee nie krag weggie, ons is nie Eskom nie,” he says.
The 1500-strong troupe says they aim to defend their title by building on their strengths.
“We will come back even better with some kwaai surprises, our brass band is one of our strongest components, so we are stepping up even more.”
West London All Stars will compete in the same section as Juvie Boy Entertainers, who currently hold the Section 2 title.
Their colours are red white and blue.
“Red, white and blue, because we’ll come for you,” warns Noohr