September 20, 2007
By Millicent Kgowedi
IT'S a double dose of festivities this Heritage Day weekend in Soweto – alongside the usual roaring entertainment of the Soweto Festival, there will be township tours.
Featuring fashion, art, food and fun, the annual Soweto Festival runs from Friday, 21 to Monday, 24 September at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown. Freedom Square, as it is known, will be buzzing.
"We had about 50 000 people attending the festival last year and this year is going to be even bigger," said Jane Warburton, the spokesperson for the organisers, Adele Luke Promotions. "We want more people - every year the festival gets bigger. We are now in our third year and can only expect a big turn out."
Tourism
The Johannesburg Tourism Company (JTC) will be a draw card at the festival, which has cemented its position in Soweto's social calendar. It offers a delightful way to celebrate the Heritage Day public holiday.
The company would have an exhibition stand filled with tourism-related information, such as accommodation, places of interest, shopping and dining out, said Pontsho Moeketsi, the JTC's information officer. The JTC is the City's tourism company.
The Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown will be a bustling place on the weekend as the annual Soweto Festival kicks off
It would include information about the city and how it operated. She said that it was important to know where to shop, which sites to visit and to understand airport facilities when you were in a foreign city.
It would conduct daily mini tours around Soweto, to give people who are not familiar with the place an opportunity to get a taste of the vibrant township. "There are different packages for the duration of the festival, ranging from full-day tours to night tours.
"There are a number of places that we are going to take them, like Diepkloof, Chris-Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Orlando and Pimville. They will visit Bester mountains, see Mandela's house and have lunch at Nambitha restaurant in Orlando West," she said.
Small businesses
In addition, 65 small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs), sponsored by Standard Bank, will display and sell their creative goods; 35 crafters will have stands outside, the balance will operate inside the main marquee.
There will be four half-day seminars for SMME owners, to equip them with basic and necessary business skills. "The training will be conducted by professor Willie Conradie from the University of Johannesburg's Soweto campus centre for SMME development," Warburton said.
Career Village
Standard Bank is also sponsoring the Career Village, where tertiary institutions and companies will give young people leaving high school information about employment, business and careers opportunities.
Warburton added that there would be a great line up of speakers daily, including Nambitha Mpumlwana, a local actress working in Hollywood; Nkaxa Nkuna, the owner of Chicken Kwasa restaurant; Wandi Nzimande, the owner of Loxion Kulca; Sechaba Mogale, a fashion guru; Baby Jake Matlala, the world champion boxer; Siki Mgabadeli, an economics wizard; and Khanyi Mlambo, a sponsorship expert; to name a few.
Fashion
Fashionistas will be able to spot new designers, who will have the opportunity to showcase their designs alongside established designers like Ephraim Molingoana, who is famous for designing men's suits. He is also a regular on the Sanlam South African Fashion Week.
Molingoana is helping the young designers to select the designs they will feature at the festival.
Children will not left out - Toys R Us, the toy retailer, will set up a secure area for kids to play safely. Parents will be able to drop off their little ones while they visit the different stands, knowing their children are safe.
Kliptown was established in 1903 and is the oldest suburb in Soweto, arguably the most famous township in the world. In 1955, thousands of people from various anti-apartheid organisations converged on Freedom Square to agree on a draft Freedom Charter.
Indigenous thorn trees have been planted around the square to represent the queues of people who waited to cast their votes in 1994, when the country held its first democratic elections.
The festival is open daily from 10am until 8pm. Entrance is R20 for adults and R10 for children and pensioners.
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