Celebrate Soweto Through the Eyes of the Locals at Makhelwane Festival
Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) is thrilled to be a part of Jozi’s celebrated community market. Creatives present the popular and growing lifestyle festival at Locrate Market to connect neighbours and communities through local small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs.
Now in its ninth year, the festival will reconnect and reignite the neighbourly culture of “Bo Makhe” by kicking off the festivities this Friday, 27 January 2022, at Thesis Lifestyle in Mofolo Village with a business networking session. The festivities continue Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th at Poka Street in Orlando West and promise the best township experience that features food, music, art, storytelling, and various fashion brands that will showcase their talent.
The festival returns to its original street venue after two of its previous editions were affected by COVID-19 restrictions. In typical ‘Makhe’ fashion, the Poka Street experience sees homeowners open their homes to allow aspiring business owners to showcase their products using their yards. The festival is deeply rooted in the historic culture and lifestyle in townships, where neighbours share and exchange food, gifts, and gestures which are purely based on the spirit of Ubuntu. The festival gives food traders, artists, and fashion designers an opportunity to showcase their products to festival attendees, making it the perfect platform to promote #MadeInGauteng products.
The opening event at Thesis Lifestyle, themed ‘My Side Hustle’, will focus on shining a spotlight on different side hustles developed by well know entrepreneurs. Saki Zamxaka will lead this session, Chief Executive Officer of Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) and Happy Ngidi, Chief Marketing Officer at Proudly South African. Ms Sthembiso Dlamini, Chief Executive Officer at Gauteng Tourism, highlights that the importance of township small business development is at the heart of not just the Gauteng government but also largely at the national government level.
“This festival takes place in South Africa’s largest township and provides a platform for small businesses from the area to showcase their talent to visitors,” says Dlamini. “Our partnership with the festival ensures its growth and quality as well as increasing demand for more visitation to the township. Such initiatives speak directly to our mandate as government to create conducive environments for township businesses to flourish,” she adds.
The amazing community festival is set to feature the best of the best township experiences. It will incorporate a food carnival, music fest, a movie screening, street dining and bubbly garden, entertainment for kids, as well as a market run entirely by children. There’s no better way to kick start the year with a Gauteng Summer Ena’lanto.
Visit www.makhelwanefest.co.za for tickets or buy them at the venue.
