Raging back: kids celebrate return of matric festival

From being identified as a super-spreader event in 2020 to being cancelled at the 11th hour in 2021, Rage has faced unprecedented challenges since the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now celebrating its 20th year, it’s back, and expecting hundreds of Jewish matriculants among the masses of attendees.

“It did kind of worry me that it was cancelled last year, and that there were problems with outbreaks – it was something I had to think about,” says Keren Katzew, a King David Victory Park matriculant who has plans to go to Ballito Rage this week. “My parents were ok about it, but said I needed to consider if it was really what I wanted to do.”

“This year is a lot safer though because of how much less COVID-19 infection there is. People aren’t wearing masks anymore and there’s more freedom. From that perspective, I think it’s a good thing Rage is going forward.”

A group of week-long music and lifestyle festivals held in coastal towns including Umhlanga, Ballito, and Plettenberg Bay, Rage is the ultimate end-of-school celebration. Yet, mired in a storm of negative publicity and positive COVID-19 tests, it was forced to close its doors before they had even inched open last year amidst an outcry from medical and government leaders. This followed the 2020 Ballito Rage festival being marked as a super-spreader event.

“Our brand, which was well known for being a caring, meaningful, safe, and extraordinary festival experience was thrust into becoming the antithesis of all of this,” says Rage founder, Greg Walsh, the chief executive of G&G Productions which owns Rage.

“It’s hard to accept things that are completely out of your control and then, to add insult to injury, to be blamed for things you truly aren’t responsible for,” he says, reflecting on the impact of the events of the past two years. “The emotional and financial suffering was terrible.

“From 23 full-time professional staff down to just six, and now back up to nine and growing, I funded the business personally for 18 months. I did it by not drawing any salary and selling personal assets like rental apartments to pay our costs and cover our losses. I wasn’t prepared to give up.”

Walsh says that though no-one is more excited about Rage’s comeback than himself and the festival teams, the road has been long. “It’s been hard work to restore trust, build believability, and meet ticket sale and sponsorship targets. We’re finally able to be creative without restriction and do what we do without being judged, ridiculed, borderline criminalised, and criticised for it. It feels great. I know without question that what we’re doing this year will make it our best yet.”

Parents who sent their kids to the 2020 Rage Festival also faced a massive backlash within and without the community. Dalia*, a King David mother who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of lingering judgements, says she sent her son to Rage in 2020, and would do so again.

“For him, matric just ended abruptly in March,” she says. “These kids then spent the rest of the year in their bedrooms, everything else was cancelled.” A healthcare worker in a public hospital, she initially campaigned to have 2020 Rage cancelled, but was unsuccessful.

Dalia ultimately felt she couldn’t be the only parent who didn’t let her child go. “Doctors and medical professors allowed their kids to go. We couldn’t really say no, and that’s where the backlash came from. People asked how you can’t just say no to your children, but these parents didn’t have matrics in their bedrooms for a year.”

But she put strict measures in place, ensuring that her son went straight into two weeks of isolation on his return. “We weren’t in any contact with him,” she says. “He actually tested negative and said that it was the best time of his life. These children needed it; they needed a little bit of normality.

“I don’t know if it was true to say that it was the start of the super-spread [of the disease], I think it would have happened in any case. Rage was well organised; they had put everything in place to make it safe, and kids got sick at a party that was taking place outside of the festival.”

Dalia says many of these children are still battling as they’ve lost out on two and a half years of their lives. “Socially, it’s been very difficult for my kids, and then it’s just the impact on our family when they knew that their mother was in the thick of it, going to work during lockdown.”

Dalia is excited to be sending her daughter to the festival this year following a high school experience also marred by the pandemic. “She missed out on two years of Bnei Akiva camp as well as Hadracha to Israel, which was cancelled when she was in Grade 10 and Grade 11,” she says. “We need to get on with our lives.”

Katzew feels the same way. “Over the past two and a half years, we haven’t been able to go to any proper parties or have any big celebrations,” she says. “Events are where I meet people and make friends, so not being able to go out and socialise has been difficult for me, especially because I’m an extroverted person. I’m excited that things are coming back to normal.”

Walsh says safety remains one of the core pillars of the business. Rage runs dedicated transport networks with Rage Rides and e-hailing services, ensuring that no-one drives to events – a rule of the festival. It also works with the Red Frogs, a network which supplies up to 100 care volunteers who provide support and counselling. There’s also “over-the-top medical provision with a world-class health and safety officer and team”, he says.

“Rage is a rite of passage,” says Dalia. “These kids have worked hard, matric is extremely difficult, and it’s what they look forward to. It has to happen.”

*Name has been changed