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Cape Town – After deciding to withdraw permission for controversial artist Steve Hofmeyr to perform at one of its venues, the George Municipality on Friday made an about-turn and said it could go ahead after his lawyers got involved.
Hofmeyr was adamant that he would not cancel the show at the city hall, after the municipality announced on Thursday that it could not endorse his event.
The show, which was part of his national "Skree" album launch tour, was scheduled to take place next Thursday evening (March 22).
READ: Hofmeyr vows that 'show will go on' after George municipality withdraws concert consent
Proceeds from the show will be part of a fundraising drive by a local school.
Hofmeyr said at the time that "being gagged by liberals" was "nothing new" for him, and that he would litigate.
News24 reliably learnt that the municipality had been given until 15:00 on Friday to respond to a lawyer’s letter, and did so just before the deadline.
"The municipality reconsidered its decision to cancel the booking to hire the town hall to the relevant school for a fundraising event on 22 March 2018, which may go ahead as planned," George Municipal Manager Trevor Botha said in a statement.
The municipality did not respond to a question on what the reason was for deciding not to exercise its right to cancel the leasing of the venue.
Hofmeyr tweeted: "Sanity prevails in George. Thank you. Concert to go ahead."
DA Western Cape provincial leader Bonginkosi Madikizela welcomed the news.
"The municipality has revoked this decision as it goes against the principles of freedom of association as enshrined in our Constitution," he said in a statement.
"While the DA does not support or endorse Hofmeyr’s political views, it is important that we do not fall into a trap of shutting down spaces for people to interact, like the apartheid government did. In 1994, South Africa took a collective pledge that we will always be guided by the Constitution, even when our views differ."
The ANC in the Western Cape had on Wednesday called on the municipality to immediately cancel the concert and "disassociate" itself from Hofmeyr in the way that other corporate sponsors had.
