Rage Festival kicks off in KZN, attracting thousands of matriculants

THE Rage Festival, where matriculants gather to celebrate the end of their schooling years, kicked off in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday.

The 23rd hosting of Rage Festival, South Africa's biggest post-matric celebration held annually in Ballito, on the north coast, runs for a week.

The weeklong event is expecting over 4000 festival goers compared to last year's 3600.

Greg Walsh, CEO of G&G Productions, who runs the Rage Festival, said over 60% of the attendees were from Gauteng.

"We are 20% up year on year. We still haven't returned to the pre-pandemic attendance which was 6 000 to 6500.

"It is a slow and steady growth. There has been an amazing interest in people wanting to attend Rage," said Walsh.

Rage passports, which are essential tickets granting access to the festivities, range from R1900 for the three day pass to over R5000. They offer unlimited access for the seven days, but with different offerings per package.

The popular Rage platinum that averaged in price from R3000 to R3500 has sold out. The top tier Rage Black passport, which offers a VVIP experience, sold out in February when sales opened. The 500 tickets that were sold started at R4200 up to R5900. The package includes VVIP access to all events, express queuing, on stage access, private trailer toilets, private bar and exclusive food stalls.

The Reunion pass for returning ragers is priced from R1500.

This year's newly introduced Express Passport, priced from R5100 includes a full Rage Platinum Passport, seven nights accommodation at a Ballito hotel and bus transport from Joburg to Ballito.

"It is expensive to attend the festival. Apart from the Rage festival ticket you also have to pay for accommodation, transport and food. Our research has found that an average for the full week is between R15 000 to R20 000.

"We sold 200 of the newly introduced Rage express passports. It was designed to give people a good rate that included a bus ride, a week's accommodation and a Rage passport. We try to make Rage more accessible because we recognise that it's getting more and more expensive with the associated costs," said Walsh.

He added that what they always renew and do completely fresh every year is the super club at the Sound Factory at the big main Rage dome.

"This year we invested significantly in international artists, such as a DJ from France named Hugel, as well as a UK DJ named James Hype who is a magician on the decks," said Walsh.

Other artists set to perform are Lady Zamar, Mi Casa, Tristan Urwin, Zakes Bantwini and Timo ODV.

He said they concentrate on the Sound Factory venue in Ballito and the daily pool parties at La Montagne.

"There are hotels in Umhlanga who also offer daily entertainment," he added.

Walsh said they have spent years perfecting the process, from armbands with important information such as next of kin and medical aid details, to having three times more security than your average event.

"We have dedicated medics and the 100 volunteers from the Redfrogs who help with emotional issues to ensure a safe and positive Rage experience for the matrics," said Walsh.

Sifiso Zulu, spokesperson for the KwaDukuza Municipality, said the hospitality value chain benefits from the hosting of the festival.

"The estimated occupancy rate for the weekend is approximately 90%, which is expected to increase steadily towards 98% to100% in the next few days as we enter the holiday season.

"Our restaurants, retail shops, public transport and informal sector continue to benefit from Rage every year. The event has always been an incident free event. The security plan for this event is integrated into the area plan for the entire municipal area. The integrated security operation plan to secure the area for this period is already in full swing," said Zulu.

He added that they were looking at between 95% to 100% occupancy rate for the entire festive season due to several events and offerings that are planned for the area.

Other key events that are taking place during the festive season include the Blythedale Beach Festival from December 27, Ballito Big Week from December 26 to January 1 and Summer Events at Willards Beach, Salt Rock Beach from December 16 until January 8, 2026.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE