02 Aug 2017

Tati River Lodge on Saturday hosted the eleventh edition of the annual Zhizha cultural festival amid song, dance and traditional cuisines.

Zhizha is a Kalanga name for harvest (letlhafula) and the festival is organised to celebrate traditional produce from the harvest after every ploughing season.

The festival attracted multitudes of people from Francistown and surrounding areas who came to sample traditional dishes, songs, dance and poetry.

Most of the revelers came dressed in traditional dresses such as leteisi.

While the event started quietly, it warmed up as the day progressed as people started arriving from their different morning engagements midday. Revelers braved the chilly weather conditions, which have been enveloping the city for the past two days to celebrate an important aspect of their culture.

Those who attended were treated to a variety of scintillating performances by Kalanga traditional groups and poets.

Chilenje che Ngwao group, which was recently crowned champions in the Hosanna category during the President’s Day competitions, belted out their favourite songs, which had the crowds dancing to every piece they played.

To add flavour to the event, the organisers ensured that traditional food was galore and this included phane, morogo wa Setswana, zengwe, chimoni, delele, serobe and traditional brew.

The highlight of the day came when the guest artist, Ditiro Leero and his dancers took to the stage and had fans eating out of his palm with his rich traditional Setswana lyrics.

At this moment, the stage was set alight and he indeed prove that he is still the king of traditional song and dance.

He endeared himself to the revelers by creatively singing songs, which talked specifically to the Zhizha cultural festival.

The Mayor of Francistown, Sylvia Muzila and coordinator at the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development in the North, Minkie Bokole also graced the event.

Speaking in an interview at the end of the day, Tati River Lodge Marketing Officer, Chengwezi Maganu highlighted that they were impressed with the manner in which the event turned out.

She explained that compared to last year, the turnout was better.

The objective of the festival, she mentioned, was to provide a platform for cultural promotion and to remind people about their history.

“Next year, we want to see Zhizha growing in leaps and bounds as a cultural event. This is the reason why this year, we brought a crowd puller such as Ditiro to raise the profile of the event,” she said.

The Zhizha cultural festival was sponsored by the culture and youth ministry, DJ White and Senn Foods. ENDS