It’s time for the annual Marula Festival

More than 1 500 rural women from 14 registered cooperatives are to derive direct and indirect benefits from the annual Marula Festival to be held in Phalaborwa from 23 February to 3 March.
The festival will include two weekends of open-air concerts which will feature household names in the hip-hop, jazz and gospel genres.
Every year the women harvest the marula fruit which they then supply to national brewing and beverage company, Distell. The company, in partnership with the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (Ledet), is constantly engaged to assist the province in the sustaining of the marula industry.
The cooperatives are also tasked to supply 12 000 litres of traditionally brewed marula beer during the festivities.
Speaking during the launch of the festival in Lephalale last Friday, Ledet MEC, Seaparo Sekoati said they will not relent until the living standard of their people in the province has improved. “The 14th Limpopo Annual Marula Festival will continue being a deliberate effort by the department to support and invest in small community based businesses. I therefore, urge public officials, executives from the private sector, traditional authorities, members of the public and, most importantly those visiting the province to support small business initiatives. We therefore hope that the people of South Africa, the SADC region, and other international guests will warmly embrace and continue to support efforts made by the Limpopo Government through programmes such as this, which aim to alleviate poverty by embracing culture, diversity and heritage,” Sekoati said.
He also alluded to the fact that the festival attracts scores of domestic, regional and international tourists and is anticipated to grow the numbers at future festivals. The urgency to develop the Limpopo Marula Industry Hub within the town of Phalaborwa with a well-developed infrastructure to host in excess of 50 000 festival patrons within the two weekends of the event is therefore critical.
Economically, such an infrastructure will facilitate long-term job opportunities for the locals and the Arts Industries since a lot of industries will be developed around this developed Marula Brand. Sekoati stressed that through the support of the Provincial Executive Council they took a conscious decision not only to host an annual festival with no long-term economic benefits but to develop a sustainable industry out of this wild fruit for the primary objectives of addressing the triple challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment. “Today the Limpopo Marula Festival contributes in excess of R45 million to the local economy of Ba-Phalaborwa and the Mopani district through general trade and also generate more than 500 job opportunities to the local communities, a figure that should be doubled in the next 3 years.”
He also added that this year they have set aside a considerable amount within the Marula budget to capacitate individuals within the arts industries. “On 9 February 2019 we will be in Vhembe district to create a platform for identification of local talent. The successful groups will be announced and put on the festival Open-Air Concert Line-Up in both Youth Festival and the jazz and gospel activities. Our local and community radio stations will also be engaged to run adverts in that regard to make sure that this festival is as inclusive as possible in terms of local content,” Sekoati informed.
Pule Shai, Mayor of Ba-Phalaborwa said they were excited to be the permanent hosts of the festival and were looking forward to host an influx of merrymakers who will in the town during the festival.

Story and photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com