Image: Supplied
Umyalezo ovela kwiBambelaNtloko neSekelaTshansela – uSuku lweLifa leMveli lowama2026
Luntu lweKhampasi oluBekekileyo,
Usuku lweLifa leMveli lusuku lokubhiyozela oko kusikhumbuza ngezinto ezisibumbe saba ngulo Mzantsi Afrika singuwo namhlanje, nendlela imbali yethu, iilwimi, iinkcubeko nezithethe esinazo ezinokunceda ngayo ekucingisiseni ngoluntu esinqwenela ukulwakha sikunye.
Ngowama2026, iNyanga yeLifa leMveli ibhiyozelwa phantsi komxholo othi, “Ukubhiyozela iLifa Lethu leMveli eliPhilayo: uKomeleza uBudlelwane Bethu obusiManyanisayo.” Olu suku lwelifa lemveli luphawula iminyaka engama31 ukusukela oko lwaqalwa ukubhiyozelwa eMzantsi Afrika emva kocalucalulo. Lusikhumbuza ukuba ilifa lemveli asiyonto iphelele nje kwizikhumbuzo, kwimyuziyam, kwiindawo zokugcina amaxwebhu okanye kwiindawo ezibalulekileyo kwimbali nakwinkcubeko. Liphila kwiilwimi zethu, kumabali ethu, ekutyeni kwethu, kumculo wethu, kwizithethe zethu, kwiinkumbulo zethu nakulwazi oludluliselwa kwisizukulwana esinye ukuya kwesilandelayo.
Steek my Weg/I See You/Ndiyakubona. Umfanekiso: Ajay LaluOlu luvo luhambelana kakhulu nembono yeYunivesithi yaseNtshona Koloni. Imbali yethu isifundisile ukuba ilifa lemveli akufanelanga ukuba ligcinwe nje kuphela – kufuneka liphinde lihlolisiswe, litolikwe ngokutsha lize linikwe intsingiselo kwixesha langoku. NjengeYunivesithi, luxanduva lwethu ukudala amathuba okuba imbali engahoywanga okanye egqwethiweyo ifundwe ize idityaniswe neengxoxo nemingeni yexesha lethu.
Umsebenzi weZiko lethu loPhando ngezeNzululwazi zoLuntu (CHR) ubonisa ngamandla oku kuzinikela. Ngentsebenziswano eqhubekekayo noluntu lwaseBarrydale, iNet-vir-Pret ne-Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Art Collective, iCHR isebenzise uphando, imfundo nobugcisa ukudala amathuba okuba uluntu luphonononge imiba yembali, inkumbulo, ubuni noxolelwano. Umsitho wonyaka woSuku loXolelwano eBarrydale ube yindlela ebalulekileyo yokubonakalisa lo msebenzi, udibanisa uluntu lwasemaphandleni nolwaseyunivesithi ngokusebenzisa imiboniso kawonkewonke nemisebenzi yobugcisa. Umboniso wamvanje, othi Steek my Weg/I See You/Ndiyakubona, uphonononge iziphumo zexesha elilandela ukugxothwa kwabantu ngenkani kwiindawo zasemaphandleni neempembelelo zoko eziqhubekekayo.
Abafundi abaphumelele eUWC bangqina ngamandla emfundo ekwaziyo ukuguqula uluntu. UChrischené Julius, uMlawuli weMyuziyam yaseDistrict Six, uchaza indlela izifundo zakhe eUWC ezamnika ngayo “indawo esekelwe kwiziseko eziqinileyo zokuhlola indlela eyakhiwe ngayo imbali yoMzantsi Afrika emva kowe1994”. Namhlanje umsebenzi wakhe ubonisa ukuba inkumbulo, oovimba beenkcukacha nobugcisa zibalulekile ekuncedeni uluntu ukuba lunxibelelane nezifundo ezidlulileyo nemingeni enzima yexesha elizayo.
"Usuku lweLifa leMveli luza kuchithwa noluntu, kusetyenziswa ubugcisa ukufumanisa ukuba kuthetha ukuthini namhlanje ukuba ngumhlali wangaphambili waseDistrict Six, kwiminyaka engama60 emva kokuba kuqaliwe ukususwa kwabantu. Kulula ukuxhomekeka kwinkumbulo nje kuphela njengesiqalo sokuvula ixesha lamandulo, kodwa ubungqongqo bokuba sisithwalandwe seSebe leziFundo ngeMbali bunyanzelisa uphando olunzulu nengqiqo emandla, sikunye noogxa bam, ukuze samkele imibuzo enzima nentsokothileyo malunga nekamva leDistrict Six," watsho uChrischené.
Chrischené Julius. Umfanekiso: UnikezelweUGqirha Geraldine Frieslaar, uMphathi oyiNtloko wooVimba beeNkcukacha kwiNkqubo yeNew Archival Visions kwiZiko loPhando lwezeNzululwazi zoLuntu, uthi izifundo zakhe ziye zaqinisa indlela yakhe yokuqonda "ngelifa lemveli laseAfrika, iimyuziyam, iingqokelela, nentsingiselo yokugcina imbali yethu ekwabelwana ngayo”, ngelixa limnika uthakazelelo olungapheliyo lwendlela ilifa lemveli elinokuthi “lifundise, lidibanise, kwaye likhuthaze ngayo uluntu”.
IsiFundiswa seMA, uMyles Tarentaal, uthi ilifa lifumaneka nakumava asondeleyo obomi bemihla ngemihla – kwisidlo se-gulab jamun kamakhulu wakhe, kwii-rotis zikamama wakhe, nakunxulumano lwakhe noLwandle lwaseNdiya. Xa ecinga ngento eyenza uSuku lweLifa leMveli lube nentsingiselo, ukholelwa ukuba ubukho nje bakho kuphela bubalulekile: “Ngokwabelana ngokutya kwethu, iinkcubeko zethu, namabali ethu, singafumana ubuhle bokwenene ngeyantlukwano yethu.”
Lo moya wokwabelana nokunxibelelana ubonakala nakwimisebenzi yeUWC yokukhuthaza nokuphakamisa umgangatho weelwimi zemveli. Ulwimi lungundoqo wokuchaza ubuni nokuziva uyinxalenye yeqela elithile, kwaye umsebenzi wethu ngeelwimi ezifana nesiMpondo, isiKhoikhoi nesiKaaps usikhumbuza ukuba xa iilwimi zibekelwa ecaleni, ulwazi oludluliselwa kwizizukulwana ngezizukulwana nalo lusemngciphekweni.
Ubuntu – ukuqaphela ubuntu bethu ngokusebenzisa ubuntu babanye –bunika indlela enamandla yokuqonda lo msebenzi. Ilifa lethu linokuba ngeendlela ezahlukeneyo, ngamanye amaxesha libe nzima ukuqondakala okanye libe ngumba ophikiswayo. Nangona kunjalo, likwabonelela ngamathuba okumamelana, ukuqaphela izinto ezisidibanisayo nokuhlonipha ubutyebi obukwimo yokwahluka kwethu.
I-Zeitz MOCAA namalungu enkqubo iUniversity of the Western Cape Museum Fellowship Programme ka2025: uDeborah Olatunji (Nigeria/USA), Myles Tarental (South Africa), Keamogetse Mosienyane (Botswana), Arafa C. Hamadi (Tanzania/Kenya), Evyn Bileri Banawoye (Togo/USA), Esinam Damalie (Ghana). Ifoto: Ramiie G, ngoncedo lweZeitz MOCAA.Ndiyanikhuthaza, bafundi bethu, basebenzi kwanabo babesaya kuba ngabafundi apha, ukuba nicingisise ngelifa eliphilayo esiliphetheyo umntu ngamnye, nangoxanduva esabelana ngalo lokuligcina, ukulibuza imibuzo nokulidlulisela kwizizukulwana ezizayo. Ngokwenza njalo, siqinisa ukuqonda kwethu ixesha elidlulileyo namandla ethu okwakha uluntu olubandakanya wonke umntu, olunobulungisa nolunothungelwano.
I encourage you, our students, staff and alumni, to reflect on the living heritage we each carry, and on the responsibility we share to preserve, question and pass it on. In doing so, we strengthen our understanding of the past and our capacity to build a more inclusive, just and connected society.
Njing. Matete Madiba
Prof Matete Madiba
iBambelaNtloko neSekelaTshansela
Dear Campus Community,
Heritage Day is a celebration that reflects on what has shaped us as South Africans and how the histories, languages, cultures and traditions we carry can help us imagine the society we wish to build together.
In 2026, Heritage Month is commemorated under the theme, “Celebrating Our Living Heritage: Strengthening the Ties That Bind Us.” This Heritage Day marks 31 years since its first commemoration in post-apartheid South Africa. It reminds us that heritage is not something confined to monuments, museums, archives or heritage sites. It lives in our languages, our stories, our food, our music, our rituals, our memories and the knowledge passed from one generation to the next.
This understanding resonates deeply with the University of the Western Cape. Our own history has taught us that heritage must not just be preserved – it must also be questioned, reinterpreted and made meaningful in the present. It is part of our responsibility as a University to create spaces in which neglected or distorted histories can be studied and brought into conversation with the challenges of our time.
Steek my Weg/I See You. Image: Ajay LaluThe work of our Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) offers a powerful example of this commitment. Through its sustained partnership with the Barrydale community, Net-vir-Pret and the Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Art Collective, the CHR has used research, education and the arts to create spaces in which communities can explore questions of history, memory, identity and reconciliation. The annual Barrydale Reconciliation Day Festival has become an important expression of this work, bringing together rural and university communities through public performance and creative practice. The most recent production, Steek my Weg/I See You, explored the rural aftermaths of forced removals and their continuing effects.
Our alumni remind us of the power of this work. Chrischené Julius, Director of the District Six Museum, reflects on how her studies at UWC provided a “grounded space to interrogate the making of South African history after 1994”. Her work today demonstrates how memory, archives and artistic expression can help communities engage with both the past and the difficult questions of the future.
Chrischené Julius. Image: Supplied“Heritage Day will be spent with community, using the arts to discover what it now means to be a District Sixer, 60 years after the removals started. It is easy to simply rely on memory as a key to unlock the past, but the rigour of being a graduate of the Department of Historical Studies has allowed me, with colleagues, to embrace the uncomfortable and layered questions about the future of District Six instead,” said Chrischené.
Dr Geraldine Frieslaar, Chief Archivist of the New Archival Visions Programme at the Centre for Humanities Research, says her studies deepened her understanding of “African heritage, museums, collections, and the importance of preserving our shared history”, while giving her a lasting appreciation of how heritage can “educate, connect, and inspire communities”.
For MA fellow Myles Tarentaal, heritage is also found in the intimate experiences of everyday life – in his grandmother’s gulab jamun, his mother’s rotis and his connection to the Indian Ocean. Reflecting on what makes Heritage Day meaningful, he believes that simply showing up is meaningful: “Through the sharing of our foods, cultures, and stories, we can find real beauty in our diversity.”
This spirit of sharing and connection is also reflected in UWC’s work to promote and intellectualise heritage languages. Language is at the core of identity and belonging, and our work on languages such as isiMpondo, Khoikhoi and Kaaps reminds us that when languages are marginalised, knowledge carried across generations is also at risk.
Zeitz MOCAA & University of the Western Cape Museum Fellowship Programme fellows for 2025: Deborah Olatunji (Nigeria/USA), Myles Tarental (South Africa), Keamogetse Mosienyane (Botswana), Arafa C. Hamadi (Tanzania/Kenya), Evyn Bileri Banawoye (Togo/USA), Esinam Damalie (Ghana). Image: Ramiie G, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA.Ubuntu – recognising our humanity through the humanity of others – offers a powerful way of understanding this work. Our heritage may be diverse, sometimes complex and even contested. Still, it also provides opportunities to listen to one another, to recognise what connects us and to respect the richness of our differences.
I encourage you, our students, staff and alumni, to reflect on the living heritage we each carry, and on the responsibility we share to preserve, question and pass it on. In doing so, we strengthen our understanding of the past and our capacity to build a more inclusive, just and connected society.
Yours sincerely
Prof Matete Madiba
Acting Rector and Vice-Chancellor
