28 Feb 2024

The mood is high, the atmosphere is lit as Polka groups make final rehearsals in preparation the annual Polka Festival slated for Tsabong Saturday.

The groups promise to offer spectacular renditions to deliver the finest potpourri of Polka heritage to create a family fun fare atmosphere filled with great music performances.

“We are busy practicing for the competition.

It means a lot to us to showcase our culture to the world, and it makes us proud.

Polka flows through our blood, our forefathers were dancing Polka and so we must carry on with their legacy,” says Lydia Van Der Westhuizen, spokesperson for Kalahari Polka Dancers in Struizendam.

As for another participating group from Khawa, Gareng Ga Dithota Polka group secretary, Soul Ballie said they were preparing the group attire and practiced every evening.

“The mood is very high.

We want to give Polka supporters the best dance moves. 

We are perfecting our formation to make our performance much better.

We plan to do things differently this time. 

We are not going to enter the stage the same way we did in the past,” he said with a smile.

Geniet Met Ons Polka group from Gakhibane group leader, Botshelo Golaolwang said they started to practice beginning of February.

“We started practicing weeks back. 

We wanted to make sure that we are ready,” he said.

To add cherry on top of the cake, the group has bought a new attire and they intend to grace the event in style with a new song and fresh dance moves, he said.

He said should the group win, they intend to use some of the money to install a water tap at the Gakhibane village development community hall.

 “We are looking forward to participating in a special way, serve good quality Polka to satisfy the crowd.

We will do our very best,” he promised.

Ministry of Youth, Sports, Gender and Culture deputy district coordinator for Kgalagadi, Dintle Kenosi was impressed that preparations were going well, especially that government took a decision to empower local associations to run cultural events on their own over the years.  

“This year we have decided to empower Pinagare ya Sekaka cultural association to manage the event in partnership with us. 

We guide them technically.

We have empowered them, and they have been participating in the planning and the decision making, consultations, and meetings. 

We conduct procurement together,” she said.

Kenosi divulged that the event was funded by government to the tune of P300 000 and the bulk of the budget for the artistes was entrusted with the association under close monitoring.

She highlighted that since they gave Pinagare ya Sekaka more control of the event, this year the shape of the annual Polka Festival would be different when compared to other years.

“This time around we are the front runners of the event and my team is fully embracing the challenge. 

Our intention is to showcase purely Polka dance, where Polka groups dominate the event,” said Pinagare ya Sekaka chairperson Shadrack Van Niekerk.

He said they took a decision to include all Polka groups registered including those who did not frequently perform as an initiative to empower them to gain stage confidence rather than get the best ones only.

The performances will be done by 12 groups, three of which were based at Struizendam, one in Bokspits, Vaalhoek, Rappelspan, Gakhibane, and Tsabong respectively, while two groups will come from Khuis and Khawa respectively.

To add variety to entertainment, a Namastaap group, Khoesip of Tsabong, a poet, Moabi Itaoleng aka Sebatana and DJ Mapero aka 2Perekisi will share the stage with Polka groups at Tsabong, Mabulokomong where the show is scheduled to start at 3pm.

Van Niekerk said this was the beginning of running the event independently after years of depending on government.

 Their vision was to start another cultural festival to cover all tribes found in Kgalagadi, Mogopo wa ngwao, targeted at inclusivity as Tsabong District was made up of a bouquet of different cultures whose performances include; dikhwaere, Namastaap, Setapa sa Setlharo, and Herero dance.

“We want every cultural artiste to participate.

We are just starting and so we do not want to change things all of a sudden. 

This is a community event and so we want to work well with them. 

We want to take the event to the next level by giving it shape and make it brighter. 

We will gradually build up until we get there,” he said. Ends