Alex troupe will light up Gauteng Carnival
JOBURG - The Gauteng Carnival is set to brighten-up the streets of Tshwane on 24 September.
Alexandra will be fully represented in the upcoming Gauteng Carnival that is expected to set the streets of Tshwane alight with colourful costumes and flamboyant displays, showing diverse cultural attire of the African continent and beyond.
The 15th edition of the carnival – which is sponsored by the National Lotteries Commission, the Airports Company SA, Transnet, Liquor City and Power FM – will light up the streets of Pretoria on 24 September.
Bushy Rakale, deputy director for creative communities at the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation said all the corridors of Gauteng will participate and make up the more than 30 000 people who will light-up the streets in a colourful display of their cultural costumes.
From Alex alone, Rakale said there will be four buses transporting more than 250 participants, who will showcase and depict Pedi, Tsonga and Zulu cultural costumes, dances and ways of life. The carnival is part of a government programme on social cohesion.
Alex has been involved in the carnival for the past 10 years and has two permanent choreographers, who form part of the carnival family and help choreograph, not just the dances, but also share their skills and knowledge with the entire carnival troupe.
Apart from the Alex carnival troupe, Rakale said they intend featuring 680 members of the KhoiSan people, while other participants of this magnificent showpiece will be arriving from as far afield as Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, just to name but a few of the participating African countries.
Argentina, China, the US and Peruvia will be part of the international contingent that will grace the Gauteng Carnival, which was the brainchild of Dali Tambo and his wife, Rachel. Tambo is the son of former ANC president, Oliver Reginald Tambo, whose centenary will be marked and celebrated with an embodiment of his values as a theme of the carnival.
Monica Newton, the new head of the Department of Sport in Gauteng, without wanting to disclose the total costs of the carnival, could only say a lot of money was involved, hence their continued appeal for more sponsors to come on board.
