Montreux Jazz Festival Franschhoek Set for Same Weekend as Cape Town Jazz Festival

This year, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF), a cornerstone of South Africa’s music calendar for over 25 years, faces an unexpected challenge. A new international festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival Franschhoek (MJFF), has been scheduled on the exact same weekend, about 70 kilometres away. Several senior CTIJF staff members have defected to the new festival, prompting speculation about whether this is aggressive competition or outright sabotage. Mark Goedvolk, founder of MJFF, emphasises that the Franschhoek festival is designed to be complementary rather than confrontational, offering a more intimate, lifestyle-driven experience amidst the region’s scenic vineyards and culture. The festival features international and local acts including Wet Wet Wet, Robert Glasper, Bilal, and Thandiswa Mazwai, though ticket prices are steep, with single-day passes at R2250 and VIP packages up to R12 000. Accommodation in Franschhoek has also surged, with luxury hotels charging upwards of R15 000 per night. Meanwhile, CTIJF maintains its robust planning and artist line-up, including Abdullah Ibrahim and Jacob Collier, and stresses that its historical scheduling has not been formally acknowledged by the MJFF organisers. The situation presents a rare clash of two major music festivals, raising questions about festival politics, pricing, and audience loyalty, while both festivals aim to celebrate South Africa’s rich musical culture.