Launch of 2023 NAF

The 1820 Settlers Monument was populated with all sorts of Activities during the opening of this year's National Arts Festival. The Makhanda Community was privileged enough to have the MEC Ms Nonceba Khontsiwe and thePremier of the Eastern Cape, Mr Oscar Mabuyane in our midst. Those who attended had an opportunity to hear beautiful voices from our popular tenors. 

The King Lobengula Foundation had a chance to receive once in a lifetime some Office Furniture and Gardening Tools, donated by the Department of Sports Recreation, Arts and Culture...assisting the underfunded Community Projects. It is the opportunity for the Community now to experience vast Artworks that are on display at the Princess Zila Lobengula Museum. We have started to work on a pilot project with Fikizolo Primary School, to help the Grade 4 -7 Learners with research on tangible Heritage Sites, starting with the Lobengula gravesite at Kwa-Ndancama Township. A place of lost hope as the name defines this community which was founded on top  of a cemetery during the apartheid era since the government of the day did not want to give land to African People. In those days Black people were not allowed to own land in this Area,  except beyond the Kei River. The King Lobengula Foundation is in a quest to teach the Young generation about the importance of our history. 

For a person to grow into full maturity as a man or a woman, it is expedient that you understand your background before you can move forward with your life. Hence, we find our children today, disorientated and misguided by all sorts of wrong information coming from all directions, including the social media platforms. it is therefore important that we continue to work together and transform our landscape, hence we started a campaign #HeritageResourcesRegeneration_CleanUp to harvest the vast knowledge laid in waste, because of neglect and vandalism. 

Today the Foundation is making a call to the Government of South Africa, especially of the Eastern Cape to assist NGO's and Businesses in restoring our Heritage Sites and we want to see the 50th anniversary of the National Arts Festival, taking place in Fingo Village...#FingoNAF_2023.

We want to thank DSRAC; Makana Local Municipality, NAF. Traditional Leadership, and the Community of the Rainbow Nation who made this Event possible and peaceful.

Lastly, we call upon the Government to invest more Funds on the Township of Fingo Village, to make sure next year's Arts Festival is spectacular and King Lobengula Foundation, is opened to all interested parties who have vested interest in the history and heritage of Fingo Village. 

EDUTOURISM and ENVIRO-TOURISM are the driving forces behind the successful Infrastructure Development that we envisioned and yields positive results on Job Creation for the Young Generation.