Umzingwane to host provincial cultural festival

Sibongile Ndiweni, Sunday News Reporter

WHILE Africa Day is designed to celebrate and recognise the accomplishments of the organisation of African Unity which is now African Union from its creation on 25 May in 1963, for Africans at large, it is a day to express and embrace their different African traditions and cultural values, draped in material that tells an African story.

Appreciating the month of May as a culture month in Zimbabwe, the Umzingwane constituency is set to host its annual cultural and arts festival on the 25 May at Sibomvu Business Centre. The festival will showcase a diversity of cultural expression, arts, indigenous food, dialects, and marketing of ecotourism and culture. Unlike in the past years, this year it will be a provincial event that will run under the theme “Preserving our intangible cultural heritage and creating employment through arts, culture and ecotourism”.

Speaking to Sunday Life, the MP of Umzingwane District, Brigadier-General (Rtd) Levi Mayihlome said to appreciate their efforts, the Matabeleland South Provincial Arts Council decided to join hands with them to make the festival a provincial event.

“We have invited the Minister of Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture to officiate the festival at Sibomvu Business Centre, and all the traditional leaders will be present to also grace this cultural occasion. We cannot be a proud people without an identity. 

“This occasion on Africa Day is about expressing ourselves, it is about our history, attire, traditional food stuffs, dance, handicrafts, poetry and drama. It is a day that gives us the opportunity to educate our children on who we are and how we can preserve our African culture,” he added.

Hon Mayihlome expressed that AmaNgwane (locals) and the people who made a choice to be a part of the Umzingwane District should be united and come together to ensure that this becomes a custom they all own to and embrace. 

He said people should not be shy to express themselves through their cultural art and traditions, and businesses should participate through design and marketing to sell to the locals and visitors as this will increase the tourism factor of the Umzingwane District.