The Grahamstown Cluster police stations held Heritage Day celebrations in advance last week in the Grahamstown Police Station’s quad. The event was organised by Captain Mali Govender and other police officers from the Grahamstown South African Police Services (SAPS) Women’s Network.
The Grahamstown Cluster police stations held Heritage Day celebrations in advance last week in the Grahamstown Police Station’s quad. The event was organised by Captain Mali Govender and other police officers from the Grahamstown South African Police Services (SAPS) Women’s Network.
All stations belonging to the cluster including Alicedale, Committee’s Drift, Grahamstown, Riebeeck East, Paterson and Seven Fountains had representatives who were all clad in traditional attire ranging from Xhosa, Khoisan, Indian and Sotho garb.
Presenting the purpose of the day, Colonel Phindiwe Mankayi of the Grahamstown police station said: “Today we are here to celebrate different cultures of our rainbow nation for our children and grandchildren, we want to make sure that it carries on and not end up in museums.”
People were grouped according to black, coloured and white cultures and participated in food, traditional attire and dance competitions.
According to Captain Govender the Indians could not represent their culture in this event because on Friday it was their first day of fasting for Purtassi which ends on 17 October.
Zoleka Makunga, an admin clerk at the Grahamstown police station, introduced the panel of judges which included Vusumzi Xalabile, Mphumezi Mesani, and Xola Zola Mweli of the Department of Sports, Recreation Arts and Culture, Grahamstown Police Station Commander, Brigadier Morgan Govender and Grahamstown Police Cluster Commander Brigadier Vakala Moyake.
After the judges were introduced, everybody stood up and proudly sang the National Anthem. The food presentation category was won by the white culture and the attire and dance categories went to the Xhosa culture.
Mesani from DSRAC said, “When you cook food it is just like you are in the laboratory, the basic things that people look for is the colour, presentation and, most important, taste because food is something that connects people.”
