Opinion: “Dankie, Ngiyabonga”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day”.

This was the theme of the event where I received an Excellence in Local Storytelling honoraria award.

I accepted the award at Ray Nkonyeni Municipality’s (RNM) annual Inkundla Theatre Festival at the Uvongo Town Hall last Saturday.

Sending the invite, the festival’s project manager, Siya Sotsu, said: “The award recognises your outstanding contributions to the art of storytelling and your dedication to preserving our local culture and traditions.”

Accepting the recognition from RNM’s arts and culture department through the leadership of Mam’Thembi Khawula and Sotsu (Margate Art Museum curator) made me relate to the festival’s theme of ‘Rome was not built in a day’.

I remember the days when I could only dream of getting a token of recognition. It is humbling to know that there are people out there who see and appreciate the effort we put in. I take this as a sign that we are on the right path and we need to work even harder.

However, bagging this award without the freedom my editor gives me in the newspaper would have been impossible. I doubt I would have received the recognition if it was not for the sub-editor that makes our final stories look excellent. It would have never been possible without the colleagues who sometimes give us fewer adverts so that we can have more editorial space. It would have never been possible without the arts and culture community in the Ugu District that keeps giving us something to write about.

Although bagging this award may have been a collective effort, I think it is only fitting that people now refer to me as ‘Ntandoyenkosi Dlamini – the award-winning journalist’ (jokes).

A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible, I pray that someday my colleagues from the local media also get the same recognition or even better because they are doing amazing work. God bless you.

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