Cultural roots grow deep among Nkomazi youngsters
The founder of Mr and Miss Cultural Roots, Sicelo Nkuna, said he wants to create a lasting legacy of upliftment of young people in cultural activities and creativity.
A local pageant platform founded by a culture enthusiast, Sicelo Nkuna, seeks to develop a love of culture, instil good values and morals and promote self-confidence.
Nkuna founded the Mr and Miss Cultural Roots three years ago to pass on his love and passion of cultural education. He himself is a former Indoni King and Mr Ubuntu SA.
“We come together with young people in this space to share our cultural backgrounds and our norms and values as African people. We also promote modelling as a talent. I have seen that our culture knowledge is lacking. I decided to use what young people love, which is pageantry, for them to be proud of their culture. We share a lot of things such as folktales from which we learn great life lessons,” Nkuna said.
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He said a crowning ceremony for the third annual queen took place at Tonga View Primary School on August 31. Andiswa Valoi was the reigning Miss Cultural Roots and Nokhanya Mabuza and Oratile Mongwe were the runner-ups. An additional category in the pageant was Miss Cultural Roots Confidence, which Qondile Makamu bagged.
He said he has had a challenge of not receiving enough young boys to participate in the pageant, and as such, they could not crown a Mr Cultural Roots. However, they are planning to do presentations at schools in Nkomazi to get more boys to participate.
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The pageant forms part of Nkuna’s non-profit organisation, Ubuhle be Masiko ne Mvelo. His hope is to uplift young people through cultural creativity and having them abstain from sexual and criminal activities.
