The Makhweyane Support Services hosted the Mpumalanga African Storytelling Awards Festival 2025 at the Mbombela Civic Centre on January 31, with unique folktales or tinganekwane told by 15 talented people, young and old.

The aim of the festival was to share and nurture storytelling in Siswati. The storytellers told their own tales that were comprised of animal characters, an intriguing element of a folktales, and some life lessons, and, of course, all in their encapsulating voices.

“We get to spread our heritage worldwide and be proud of indigenous South African languages such as Siswati. We aim to celebrate these storytellers. This is a platform that preserves and respects the generational lessons of folktales. Our theme for this year is ‘My story, your story, our pride and heritage’,” said Makhweyane Support Services’ marketing manager, Mongezi Mlambo.

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Mlambo said another goal of this festival is to give future generations a point of reference of storytelling.