Royal Heritage Festival
The Royal Heritage Festival (RHF) in Vhembe is described by organisers as Limpopo’s biggest music festival. The Festival began in 2012 and is now in its 5th year. The full name of the event is the Phalaphala FM Royal Heritage Festival. Phalaphala FM is a Tshivenda language radio station owned by the SABC, which can be received mainly in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces. Other sponsors include the Department of Arts and Culture (under the Mzansi Golden Economy Flagship events category), the Khoroni Hotel (who provide the venue for the pre-party); VBS Mutual Bank (who sponsor T-shirts).
The main purpose of the Festival, according to organisers, is to provide the Limpopo province with an opportunity to unify its citizens and their neighbouring countries to celebrate the rich cultural heritage and promote tourism in the province. Key contributions highlighted on the RHF website are social cohesion, economic growth, tourism and destination marketing, but there are also strong cultural heritage themes.
According to media reports, in 2015 the festival was attended by 8 000-12 000 people from all over South Africa and neighbouring countries. According to Festival organisers, the expected turn-out in 2016 was 15 000 – 21 000 people. The Festival takes place over three days (8 – 10 September in 2016), and is made up of a number of components:
Arts, Culture and Music Workshops (8th of September) are aimed at “young and upcoming” cultural sector workers (musicians, writers and poets). The workshops provide an opportunity for networking between young cultural sector stakeholders and “experienced icons in the industry”. In 2016, the workshops were replaced by a career day held at the SABC offices in Thohoyandou, due to lack of funding.
The second day (9th of September) focused on traditional sports. The King Mphephu Fun Walk is a 10km walk hosted by King Mphephu Ramabulana. According to organisers, the objectives of the walk are to promote a healthy lifestyle and social cohesion. The walk is followed by Musangwe, a traditional form of bare-knuckle fighting, also referred to as “traditional royal boxing” by Festival organisers. One of the aims of the Festival is to improve the image of this traditional form of competition, and which has been “wrongly labelled as barbaric”.
The final day of the Festival (10th of September) was marketed the most strongly as the “main” part of the Festival, and is focused on a Music Festival, which takes place at the Nandoni Dam on the Luvuvhu River. Mainly South African musicians performed. Along with musicians from Limpopo, the Festival promotes local talent as well as top performers in South Africa. Some of the performers at the 2016 Festival include: Thandiswa Mazwai; Nathi; Shwi no Mtekhala and Alick Macheso.