SUPPLIER DEPOT

AfrikaBurn has noted that the way outside service providers (suppliers) have been allowed to operate in recent years has had a negative impact on the community and the creativity of the event. Theme camps that were formed to support the community in various ways have since fallen away as Burners increasingly choose to pay suppliers instead of seeking assistance through Communal Effort or just relying on themselves to get things done.

In this way, our previous supplier process has stifled creative innovation, squashed the existing community, and facilitated a practice that goes against our core ethos and 11 Guiding Principles.

With this in mind, AfrikaBurn has created a new Supplier Policy, which will be implemented at AfrikaBurn 2024.

How do you know if you are a supplier or if you need to register your supplier?

• If you are a company providing items or services to participants in Tankwa Town, then you are a supplier and must register via AfrikaBurn’s Supplier Programme.
• If you are part of a Creative Crew and are hiring anything from or engaging any services rendered on-site in Tankwa Town, we request that you ask your supplier to register via AfrikaBurn’s Supplier Programme. This includes any transportation and sound companies.

What changes have been implemented for AfrikaBurn 2024?

• No goods or services will be permitted to be supplied to personal or private camps.
• Suppliers may only provide goods and services to registered creative projects (Theme Camps, Artworks and Mutant Vehicles possessing a Project Registration Code).
• Participants using suppliers must always accompany any suppliers setting up on their behalf.
• All deliveries will happen in the designated delivery zone of the Suppliers Depot. Participants must collect their goods from the depot and transport them to their camps or arrange delivery from the delivery zone.
• Service providers cannot deliver camping equipment (Eg: Dome Tents, Bedding, Kitchen equipment, crockery & cutlery etc) to the AfrikaBurn event site. All equipment is only permitted to be dry hired, collected from the company’s hire premises and transported to site by participants.

Suppliers and Plug & Play

Plug & Play Camps – which are in effect private hotels – are not permitted at our event.

Outsourcing the effort by having paid staff to set up a camp completely, sidesteps fundamental aspects of a Burn, diluting the ethos and point of the exercise…if you’re doing this, you’re denying yourself the full experience and stand a good chance of being prevented from setting up a camp of a similar nature in the future.

To put it simply: essential set-up services are OK to outsource, but paid staff (including cleaners, chefs or other staff) are not. This also means that you’re expected to get involved, and not just be a spectator when your supplier arrives on site to deliver the services / goods you have arranged.

Please help support the culture of AfrikaBurn – don’t engage in “plug-and-play” scenarios. At AfrikaBurn, there’s no ‘someone else’ that builds Tankwa Town: every person is expected to build, clean and then break down their camp.

Participants providing Plug-and-Play camping may forfeit their right to return to Tankwa Town again.

Suppliers supporting or servicing plug-and-play camps will face hefty penalties, including the forfeit of their deposit and/or access to the event in the future.

If in doubt, whether you are a participant or a supplier, please [chat with us] at AfrikaBurn and we will guide you in the right direction.

Please note: The following services are prohibited at the AfrikaBurn Event:

• No supplier is allowed to provide showers or toilets at the AfrikaBurn event. AfrikaBurn participants are expected to build their own showers and use the toilets provided. Anyone with accessibility needs, please contact [[1]].
• No decor deliveries are permitted to site by decor suppliers. Decor is to be transported to Quaggafontein by the creative crew involved in the Creative Project.  
• Deliveries of food and beverages that form part of a camp gift are permitted as a single-entry drop-off at the Suppliers’ Depot. Food and beverage deliveries for personal consumption are not allowed.
• Service providers are not permitted to deliver camping equipment to the AfrikaBurn event site. All equipment can only be dry-hired, collected from the company’s hire premises and transported to site by participants.

Supplier Registration Process

The onus is on you to ensure that your supplier complies with the supplier policy that AfrikaBurn has put in place.

Register your supplier HERE. DEADLINE TO REGISTER: FRIDAY 29 MARCH 2024.

AfrikaBurn will get in touch with your supplier to ensure that they get the correct information to ensure smooth entry into the event.

Take note of where the Supplier Depot is when you arrive on site. You will need to fetch your supplier from the depot and escort them to your campsite.

Practice radical self-reliance and arrange a date and time in which to meet your supplier on site at the Supplier Depot.

Check that your supplier has the correct credentials to access the event (don’t assume they’ve sorted this themselves).

Arrange that at least 2 people from your camp are present to assist your supplier when they arrive at your campsite to deliver the service you have requested.

Ensure that at least 2 people remain on site to assist your supplier to pack up the service they have provided you.

REMEMBER: Suppliers and service providers have a tendency to bring default world thinking into Tankwa Town, and that kind of “service mentality” has no place in or around our beloved Binnekring.