GIYANI – In restoring the culture of singing, dancing and all sorts of indigenous practices within its area of jurisdiction, the Greater Giyani Municipality staged a Cultural Day at the Arts, Sport and Culture hall in Giyani last weekend.

According to Cllr Jane Mohale of the Greater Giyani Municipality, the cultural day is an annual event, initiated by the Municipality with the purpose to promote culture within the communities that they serve. She said that the municipality had received R380 000 from the national department of Arts, Sport and Culture to promote culture in their area.

“We have already appointed a centre manager to sustain culture and as a municipality, we have set aside R150 000 for office equipment for the centre manager,” she said. Chief Penny Ngobe said that, through an African style of living, there will be no street kids, hobos or hunger. “We must start practising our culture of being proud, so that our children will grow up knowing their identity,” he said.

The MEC for Arts, Sport and Culture, Mr Joe Maswanganyi, outlined that, in a democratic country like South Africa, no culture is inferior to another, that all cultures are equal. The MEC criticised parents who are not teaching their children their own vernaculars. “Your children cannot reach your age because you are allowing them to move away from their culture,” he said.

Traditional healers from different villages around the Giyani area attended the function.