Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation celebrates Heritage Day and upcoming SATMA Awards
Take a look at the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation celebrations.
Heritage Day celebrations:
With Mpumalanga lagging behind with its vaccination programme and some men reportedly snubbing the jab, the acting premier, Vusi Shongwe, has pleaded with the province’s citizenry to drop everything and go to be vaccinated.
The province has in the last 24 hours administered 9 911 vaccinations, bringing the total number of jabs so far to 956 929. Mpumalanga, Free State, North West and Northern Cape are the only provinces below the one-million mark.
Gauteng has so far vaccinated over 4.4 million of its citizenry, while the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape provinces are over the two-million mark. A recent report by the Department of Health suggested that men over the age of 35 in South Africa are not taking the Covid-19 vaccination at the same rate as women.
The report proved that only 40% of those who had been vaccinated by August were men. “I want to urge and encourage everyone to go and be vaccinated. I want to make a clarion call to all men in the province to lead the vaccination campaign so we can go back to our lives the way it was before we were hit by this pandemic. It is really in our hands to have our lives back without face masks and social distancing. We all are looking at a tomorrow that will allow us to go back to our stadiums, attend festivals and unrestricted religious gatherings. So, let us not waste any more time. Let us go and be vaccinated today,” appealed Shongwe during the Heritage Day celebration in Ronaldsay Trust in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality last Friday.
He asked that people should refrain from listening and entertaining rumours when it comes to the vaccine. “There are unfounded rumours and perceptions that the vaccines have a negative impact on their manhood. This is far from the truth. Some of us have taken the vaccine and we are fine. We need to draw lessons from European countries who have already vaccinated their entire populations and things are back to normal with their economies back on track. The sooner we all get vaccinated, the quicker we will also be free to attend our favourite public events. We really want to see the economy opened, without any restrictions, so that government and the private sector can start creating employment opportunities for our people,” said Shongwe.
Province ready to host SATMA Awards
Culture, sport and recreation MEC Thandi Shongwe says Mpumalanga is ready to host the 16th South African Traditional Music Achievement (SATMA) Awards. She said this during the launch and nominees’ announcement event at Premier Hotel The Winkler on Saturday.
“The province is ready to host the 2021 SATMAs. Our preparations are going well and looking at how far we are with the planning, it is evident that we are closer to getting things done. I hope on November 27 you will all also enjoy the outcome and see the work that was done,” she said.
The SATMA Awards is being hosted in partnership with the Mpumalanga government and SABC. The events are being hosted in the province for three years; the first being 2020 and the last year 2022. It will then move to another province.
The SATMAs has honoured over 100 musicians, legends and up-and-coming artists in South Africa. This year’s ceremony will be held under the theme “My Culture, Your Culture, One Nation”.
Shongwe urged the artists to be the vehicle that drives the vaccine programme. “For us to be able to hosts events like this, we need more people to get vaccinated. If artists spread the word, it will help to get rid of the myths that people are spreading. We are unable to host big events due to people being scared to get vaccinated,” she explained.
The CEO of the SATMA Awards, Zandile Ndzimande, said, “For the first time in a long time, we combined the launch and the nominees’ announcement event. I would like everyone to educate themselves on the voting process. Some artists contact us, saying I know a lot of people voted for me, but I did not win. It is important that the process is done correctly, because if it is not, the system automatically kicks it out.
“With regard to our programme, the day before the awards a golf event will be hosted, in October the roadshows will begin and on October 30 a prayer event will be held.” Nomalungela Gina, the deputy minister of trade, industry and economic development, said, “We have seen the SATMA Awards growing. Every year we see the team showing growth. Looking at the set-up that we have for today’s event, it is like a picnic.”
All the nominated artists in the different 27 categories are available on the SATMA Awards’ Facebook page and website. Big Zulu, Afrotraction, Mduduzi Ntuli, Thabo Summary, Sindi Myeni and various cultural groups kept the guest entertained at The Winkler.
