The parking lot at the entrance to Fiddlers Green has been at the centre of a dispute between two men who both claim to be in charge of it.
The Festival committee decided that the field which has been used for parking for many years needed to be run by professional car guards.
The parking lot at the entrance to Fiddlers Green has been at the centre of a dispute between two men who both claim to be in charge of it.
The Festival committee decided that the field which has been used for parking for many years needed to be run by professional car guards.
The tender was publicised and business owner Deon van der Venter was awarded the tender. Victor Nkululeko Mfecane say he has been running the parking area for many years, so on the first day of Festival this year, he and his team ran the area as usual, collecting parking fees and looking after cars.
He was then shocked when he was told the following day that they had to leave as the tender had been awarded to someone else.
Mfecane asked the men who had been given the tender. They told him that a person called Charles was co-ordinating the parking along Cawood Street and that Van der Venter is now in charge of the main parking area.
Mfecane insisted that if the tender had been given to Van der Venter he should provide him with the tender number as proof.
When Grocott’s Mail tracked down Charles (who refused to give his full name) he said that he was only responsible for the parking in Cawood Street.
But he confirmed that the person responsible for running the parking area was indeed Van der Venter and that Mfecane knew that he was not allowed to run it anymore.
This was substantiated by one of the car guards who identified Van der Venter as his employer. Van der Venter said he is the sole manager of the area as he was awarded the tender a month ago.
He says he was the only person who had applied for the tender so he does not understand what Mfecane and his men were doing there.
“If we associate ourselves with Victor, we will get into trouble because he’s a crook and we shouldn’t listen to him,” he said.
