EMM to host African Lifestyle and Heritage Festival
The metro will also officially declare two new heritage sites
Ekurhuleni will kick off Heritage Month celebrations with the African Lifestyle and Heritage Festival at Dries Niemandt Park from September 18-20.
The festival will include authentic African cuisine, music, fashion, arts and crafts as well as receiving lessons on the evolving culture and identity of the continent.
Ekurhuleni, in partnership with Via Katlehong and Business Education and Arts Mentorship (BEAM), will host an electrifying youth dance competition dubbed “Just Stand up and Dance”. It will see participants dancing to pantsula and contemporary dance styles on Saturday, September 19 at DH Williams Hall in Katlehong.
In its endeavours to uphold and give a commendable meaning to the heritage month celebrations, the City of Ekurhuleni will on Saturday, September 26, officially declare the Duduza Reconciliation Park a heritage site following its pertinent history of the zero-zero hour saga – an event which took place in 1985 when young political activists from Kwa-Thema, Tsakane and Duduza were brutally killed with hand grenades by the apartheid government.
In continuation with the official opening ceremony of heritage sites, the Indaba Tree in Kwa-Thema, situated between the corner of Nkosi and Shabangu streets, will also be declared a heritage site. The tree was chosen by Stegman Koko on February 6, 1953 to be used as a gathering point for community meetings. The tree also served as a traditional court to settle community disputes.
On Wednesday, September 30, Ekurhuleni and the Selope Thema Foundation will convene a gala dinner to give befitting recognition to the late struggle stalwart Selope Thema, the man after which Kwa-Thema township was named following his staunch political contribution to the emancipation of the people.
The gala dinner will be held at Germiston City Hall from 6pm.
To conclude the action-packed heritage month, the municipality will continue to celebrate its political heritage by honouring the late politically acclaimed resistance artist, Thami Mnyele, through the national fine arts competition, the Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards.
The highly anticipated awards event will be held on Saturday, September 26 at Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre in Birchleigh North, where artists will be rewarded for their cutting edge visual arts products.
Subsequent to the awards ceremony, an exhibition of the best work will be open at Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre from September 27 to October 18, daily from 8am to 5pm. Entrance is free of charge.
