BuKalanga Festival to resume in Zim
SINCE 2005, people of the Kalanga tribe in Zimbabwe have had the opportunity to meet and celebrate their language and culture through festivals.
One such festival will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa this month with a Zimbabwean edition to be held later in the year. The festivals were not held in recent years owing to financial challenges.
In an interview, the festivals co-ordinator, Embassy Mahumba said the South African edition will also include a beauty pageant.
“We are hoping to revive the festival this year. We are not yet sure of the dates because there are a lot of things that we still have to work on before we come up with the date. Years back the festivals were held at places such as Masendu Cultural Centre, Luswingo Ruins, and Chief Tjankuluba, among others,” he said.
“The beauty pageant is expected to attract contestants from young migrant workers and students based in Johannesburg. They will showcase a unique Kalanga fashion, art and excellence in Kalanga language,” he said.
Mahumba said they were holding such festivals after realising that there was a large number of Kalanga people in South Africa and there was need to for the culture to be preserved through art and music.
“Kalanga is arguably the largest Zimbabwean ethnic group in South Africa and so this inspired us to come up with this festival which will effectively contribute to the preservation and promotion of our language and culture. The recognition of TjiKalanga as an official language among 15 others in Zimbabwe has been a major morale boost which has further motivated the creation of annual BuKalanga Festival in South Africa.
“It will be a platform for Kalanga people to meet and network as well as contribute to the development of their language and culture. For the South African festival, all proceeds generated at the festival will be channeled towards carrying out various projects that are meant to promote the growth and development of Kalanga language and culture including the education sector,” he said.