Nkomazi to come alive with heritage fest’s awards

The Nkomazi region’s residents are in for a great host of festivities lined up for this spring and summer with the I Am Mpumalanga Heritage Fest and the I Am Nkomazi Annual Awards taking centre stage.

The Nkomazi Local Municipality has welcomed these events, deeming them vital as they not only help to put the region on the map, but have great economic spin-offs for locals.

In celebrating, recognising and rewarding Nkomazi’s finest, we have decided to establish and host the inaugural I Am Nkomazi Awards, which are aimed at honouring inspiring individuals, businesses and companies from our region

Nkomazi is one of the province’s rural regions with hardly any form of top-notch entertainment and sporting activities. The only notable events are the annual Selati Cup, and Nabalabantfu and Ebukhosini Resort’s spearheaded events by Zakhele Mbatsane and Delani Mofokeng. “In celebrating, recognising and rewarding Nkomazi’s finest, we have decided to establish and host the inaugural I Am Nkomazi Awards, which are aimed at honouring inspiring individuals, businesses and companies from our region. These awards, unlike the others, will recognise and cover everyone and everything about Nkomazi, from excelling sporting individuals to best restaurants, guest houses and factories and companies,” said Philisiwe Sibiya, the spokesperson for the I Am Nkomazi Awards.

We believe such categories will play a meaningful role in motivating individuals and companies to strive to serve the Nkomazi community with excellence and humility.

She said the awards have been crafted in such a way that they will not leave anyone uncatered for. “These awards are so unique that we even have a public transport category, such as the best taxi driver and best bus driver, the entertainment category, fast foods category and many more. We believe such categories will play a meaningful role in motivating individuals and companies to strive to serve the Nkomazi community with excellence and humility.”

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Sibiya said the awards’ nomination processes were conducted in a similar fashion as the famous PMR Awards, during which various industry experts are called and asked to nominate and also serve as adjudicators.

According to Mbatsane, I Am Mpumalanga Heritage is all about celebrating culture, heritage and language through music. “Nkomazi then becomes the perfect home for such an event due to its unique ethnicity,” he said. “These events are not just about entertainment, but will help provide temporary employment and business opportunities to our people here in Nkomazi, which is what we are all hoping for.”