DURBAN – On Friday, 30 September 2022, the KwaZulu Natal Women’s Network, together with the Men for Change hosted a Heritage Day Celebration at the Penguin Street Grounds, in Kharwastan. Districts throughout the Province of KwaZulu Natal came together to celebrate and embrace each other’s cultures in a ‘Never seen before’ extravaganza. Each District took their tasking of the received Culture, as serious business, as they worked together, planned and executed brilliance, by accurately adorning the correct attire from their Culture, to exploring the food and drinks of their culture, indulging in the never seen before, all to create a memorable experience, and a successful Heritage Day Celebration for 2022.
The Heritage Day Celebration awakened beautiful traditional attires, real animal skins and glitter and traditional prints, as the Districts around KwaZulu Natal, Provincial Office and Provincial EHW encouraged their members to step out of their day to day, and into a day of celebrating together. The event commenced on arrival of our dignitaries, the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi, as well as his entourage, who also embraced their cultural attire to make the celebration more exquisite, and our arrival of the special guests which included: SAPU, POPCRU, and our partners for the event: Old Mutual, Polmed, Sanlam and EHW.
The Heritage Day Celebration commenced as the Programme Directors Warrant Officer Khwela and Mrs Slie Magubane who gathered the crowd around to start with a Prayer by Chaplain Kistiah to unite all of the members who attended the event, and to ensure that the Province of KwaZulu Natal always remained protected in all that we do together. The Dignitaries as well as special guests who were seated prayed together, and released white pigeons as a symbol of bringing peace and unity amongst us all. The mesmerising visuals of the birds flying through the sky as they were released brought in a feeling of peace, and cheer, as members clapped in awe of the beautiful sight.
The welcome of the dignitaries, special guests, partners of the event and all members to the KwaZulu Natal Heritage Day Celebration was done by the KwaZulu Natal Men for Change Champion: Colonel Twala, he welcomed the guests and expressed his gratitude to all who could take time out of their busy schedules to come to the celebration, and make it such a successful event.
The Purpose of the Day was done by KwaZulu Natal Women’s Network Champion: Brigadier Slambert, who encouraged the members to support the structures in making these events successful. Brigadier Slambert also explained how the committee planned to execute such a successful event, and expressed her gratitude to all those who attended the event to embrace the different cultures and come together as the Province of KwaZulu Natal.
Messages of support were offered by both South African Police Service Unions, SAPU and POPCRU, and the podium was ready for the Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi to deliver is special message of support, the Provincial Commissioner expressed his gratitude to all the members for their effort and enthusiasm towards making the event a success, he commenced with visiting each District’s Gazebo throughout the ground, allowing him to interact with the members, view their presentation on the culture and view their interpretations of the selected culture, not forgetting dinning in the exquisite variety of foods, from traditional fire cooked breyani, mopane worms, Jeqe, Mfino, traditional pap and chicken feet to boerewors, British High Tea and Hawaiian punch. The Provincial Commissioner and his entourage had experienced a bit of every culture as they were fine dining in each District, being served by the best dressed of them all… The teams were judged according to their food variety, their knowledge on the selected culture, their presentation and their layout of their table and background.
After the exquisite food tasting, all the districts of the Province gathered together to do their final parade to the Provincial Commissioner as the announcement for the winners of the Mr and Miss Heritage were going to be announced, before the main announcements, the POLMUSCA entertained the crowd with their mesmerising traditional dance as their dancers and singers were adorned in traditional skins and beaded outfits, the dancers drew the crowd to a standstill as their incredible entertainment was the ultimate attraction at the event. The winners were announced as follows: Mr and Miss Heritage Second Place: Umgungundlovu District and in First Place: Uthukela District. The top three Districts were also announced as the following: Third Place – Ugu District, Second Place – Ethekwini District and First Place – Umkhanyakude District.
To close off the event, the Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi, thanked all members for attending this event and making it the success it was planned to be, he encouraged all members to bond over the Heritage Day Celebration and ensure the Province of KwaZulu Natal always remains united as they were on the grounds, he also encouraged the Districts on hosting a bigger event next year, and bringing in more of our members to be a part of this celebration. Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi extended his appreciation towards Brigadier Slambert and Colonel Twala, together with the Women’s Network and Men for Change and the Local Organising Committee for such a extravagant execution of a Heritage Day Celebration, which will go down in history as the biggest Provincial Heritage Day Celebration. Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi ended on a positive note by encouraging all members to support the structures in their events and wished everybody a safe journey travelling back home.
Source: South African Police Service