The Annual 2nd MORUPELO Cultural Festival and Travel Expo is to be a week-long Culture, Arts, Heritage and Rural tourism festival that celebrates the Mapulane culture and other cultures within the region of Bushbuckridge, namely maTsonga and maSwati.
This initiative, 2nd MORUPELO Cultural Festival and Travel Expo, is set to promote cultural diversity, awareness, and inclusion. It is to be a major contributor to the advocacy, sustainability and advance efforts towards nation building and social cohesion.
Mapulana, a lowveld ethnic group found in Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga province and the borders of Limpopo province, Mapulane initiate their youth into womanhood and manhood through an initiation school (KOMA) held in winter. The practices of KOMA are marked by secrecy. Boys and girls who have undergone initiation together will belong to the same regiment. An elaborate system is in place to distinguish a regiment from another based on when the regiment was initiated. The uninitiated cannot "visit" an initiation school when it is in session.
Throughout the homecoming celebration weekend, the young initiated women (BONGWALE) and men (BADIKA) will again and again, in a show of pride, challenge each other to a dance and mock stick fight respectively. Thereafter they will flock to the house of the initiation school permit holder who is the principal of KOMA. Initiates will sleep in the house of the permit holder on the Friday. Parents will then come back on the following Saturday morning to officially receive their initiated female and males, who are now viewed in the Mapulana cultural context as women and men and they would go to the varies families for more celebrations and festivities.
DIKOMA being one of the biggest initiation celebrations in South Africa held in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, gathers over 6000 initiates and well attracts the attention of 150 000 people through different platforms, through its festivities
To celebrate and promote culture and heritage
Develop Culture and heritage archiving
Enable an environment to advocate for cultural societal issues and challenges
Enhance local economy and the creative industry within the region
Promote cultural tourism
Create sustainable and quality jobs
Discourage gender-based violence and promote unity amongst young people
To develop a key-brand in the global events calender
To create a sense of heritage for all local patrons
To anchor social cohesion through cultural celebration
Platform to share information on products and services offered by SMEs
Platform to connect African SMEs, Co-Operatives to meet potential buyers, strategic partners
Increased local brands visibility
Job opportunities for local youth
Media interview opportunity