Plenty of heritage celebrations planned
The metro will also officially declare two new heritage sites
THE City of Ekurhuleni will host a number of events during Heritage Month, starting with the African Lifestyle and Heritage Festival at Dries Niemandt Park from September 18 to 20.
During the festival, patrons will be taken on a tour of the African continent by experiencing authentic African cuisine, music, fashion, arts and crafts as well as receiving lessons on the evolving culture and identity of the continent.
Also read:
• World heritage sites you probably did not know of
Furthermore, to bring about a linkage between traditional dance styles and urban sub-cultural dance genres, 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.
The up-tempo afro urban dance battle will be used as a platform to celebrate the fourth instalment of the Annual Dance Day South Africa, an event aimed at encouraging artists to express themselves through a variety of dance styles.
In its endeavours to uphold and give a commendable meaning to 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 where young political activists from KwaThema, 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 KwaThema, 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 KwaThema 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.
