Veteran poet and writer Don Mattera was honoured with the 2022 Artfluence Human Rights Award, for his commitment to human rights, activism, and community development.
Due to ill health, the anti-apartheid activist was unable to attend the official opening of the Artfluence Human Rights, at the Centre for Creative Arts, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, on Tuesday, May 3.
Bev Ditsie and Irfaan Mangera were also recognised for their human rights advocacy.
Ditsie and Mangera will be using their prize monies for the development of others in their respective communities.
Ditsie, who was awarded the 2022 Artfluence Human Rights Champion Award, in recognition of her decades of activism for access and equality, says she will be investing back into the foundation to support emerging filmmakers.
Ahmed Kathrada youth programmes manager Irfaan Mangera was announced as the 2022 Artfluence Human Rights Youth Activist Award.
He will be using his prize money to further the developing programmes that can assist teachers in promoting human rights initiatives.
“Our winners are more than just activists, champions, and advocates for human rights. They are also selfless moral leaders, who believe in paying it forward so that others can continue to benefit from their reputable legacies.
“They represent the kind of moral leadership desperately needed in South Africa, where corruption and criminality have tainted the characters of many of our political leadership,” said Ismail Mahomed, director of the Centre for Creative Arts.
The hybrid event was held at the Mandela Capture Site, in the uMngeni Municipal District. The site for the festival commemorates the 60th anniversary this year, when Nelson Mandela was captured by the apartheid state.
“Sixty years ago, Nelson Mandela was captured. Sixty years later, the state that he fought to liberate has been captured,” said Yusrah Bardien, the online programme's curator of the Festival.
The event includes multi-media exhibitions, a jazz concert, dance performances, film screenings, comedy and art workshops.
The uMngeni programme kicked off with an exhibition titled “uMongo Msindo”.
uMongo Msindo invites audiences and custodians of age-old music traditions on a sojourn of music-making and consumption, with a particular focus on the relationship between player and instrument.
Both entities conjoin to form a vessel that transmits sound, heritage, and frequencies.
Speaking on behalf of the uMngeni Municipality, councillor Chris Pappas said: “Artists help us understand where we come from and where we are going.”
He added that the Capture Site was a significant heritage site, that can play a vital role in heritage education and boost the uMngeni Municipality's cultural economy.
The festival continues until Sunday, May 8.