Mpumalanga Department of Education host Ingoma Festival

Emalahleni Civic Centre hosted the Department of Education as it celebrated all things about culture during Heritage Month on Saturday, September 17.

The Ingoma Festival forms part of the department’s extra-curricula efforts to foster social cohesion and celebrate cultural diversity as a province and a nation.

Learners from the Mpumalanga Province participated in the program that forms part of their Curriculum Enrichment.

Ingoma Festival is a joyous celebration of all South Africa’s diverse cultures through song and dance.

It enables in particular learners the opportunity to revive and bring back the sense of pride and ownership to the indigenous cultures, languages, and knowledge systems.

The MEC for Education, Mr Bonakele Majuba was pleased to have been allowed to reflect on our culture, diversity, and heritage as people of the ‘Place of the Rising Sun.

“I am quite ecstatic that the Ingoma Festival adds impetus to our collective quests to revive the teaching of our languages and culture. The Ingoma Festival is more than just a joyous festival, but is a celebration of our incredibly diverse cultures, through song and dance.

It also provides us with an opportunity to revive and bring back the sense of pride and ownership of our indigenous languages, cultures, and African knowledge systems.

We are grateful that as we participate in sessions such as this one, we also assist our learners to gain insight into our culture, heritage, and knowledge systems that have been developed and handed over from one generation to the next.

This is exactly what we intend to teach our learners and children to be proud of their languages and to enjoy being who they are.”

Mr Majuba also mentioned how influential the musicians from the Mpumalanga Province have been in terms of assisting citizens to promote ethnic languages, cultures, and songs.

He gave credit to Dr Thembi Mkhwebane for promoting and preserving indigenous languages throughout the province of the rising sun.

MEC insisted music can instill a sense of loyalty and love as its impact last enough for people to reminisce and create memories.

“We are grateful to all officials who organized and made a success of this festival as well as to the schools and learners that are participating at this level. We also wish to extend our sincere appreciation to the leadership of Emalahleni Local Municipality for their hospitality ‒ Siyabonga kakhulu”.

The event marked a celebration of the preservation of culture and heritage that took the stage at Emalahleni Civic Hall, hosted by the Mpumalanga Department of Education under the Curriculum Enrichment Programme where primary and secondary schools from four districts of the province participated in the Ingoma Festival through song and dance.

The event marks the celebration of September as Heritage Month and coincides with the pronouncement of Unesco declaring this a decade of the promotion of indigenous languages.

“Most of our traditions and heritage are in the minds of adults and thus sharing them with the young ones will not only conserve but renew them,” ‒ Mpumalanga Department of Education.

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