Kaza Kamba Pan African Festival

Sounding the South: An echolocation brings together three acclaimed artists- poet Lesego Rampolokeng, jazz pianist and vocalist Yonela Mnana, and percussionist Gontse Makhene- for a compelling intellectual and spiritual journey. Rampolokeng, one of South Africa’s most influential literary voices, is joined by Mnana, a celebrated jazz scholar, composer and performer, and Makhene, a renowned Soweto-born percussionist with over 17 years’ experience. Together they fuse poetry, music and rhythm into a powerful exploration of creativity, reflection and contemporary South African life.

Duration:

30 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission opened, we present readings of two new plays that speak to Memory Against Forgetting.

Maki Next Door by Khutjo Green and Vernon Mthembu recalls the tragic death of activist Maki Skhosana in 1985, accused through rumour of betrayal.

Remember Sobukwe by Jonathan Maseng traces Sobukwe’s departure from the ANC, the formation of the PAC, and asks audiences to reflect on how the past shapes present struggles for justice.


Duration: 120 minutes.

Rhythm and Chants with Vincent Ngubane (Mr. Vince) is a workshop where he will be sharing insights and teaching African rhythms and isiZulu chants. Each participant will have their own drum, and together we will use our voices to craft a single, powerful chant that we will perform at the end of the session within two hours.

Duration: 120 minutes.

Many Tongues, Many Stories, One Stage: Storytelling in Indigenous Languages Presented by Lucky Mqoboli. In this workshop, he will explore the direct relationship among theatre, storytelling, and African indigenous languages. Through an engagement with idiomatic expressions, proverbs, and oral storytelling traditions, the workshop highlights the richness and complexity embedded within African languages.


Duration: 120 minutes.

Behind the walls of a respected family lies a secret too painful to ignore. When Purity Munanda finds herself trapped in a room with her father, Professor Jairus Munanda, the years of silence, fear, and buried trauma come crashing to the surface. What begins as a tense confrontation soon unfolds into a gripping battle of truth, power, and survival as dark family secrets are exposed. The facade cracks when the silence breaks.

Written by Fred Mbogo and Directed by Alacoque Ntome the play stars Emmanuel Shikuku and Ann Kiveli.
Duration: 1hr10min

The Battle of Algiers documents the Algerian struggle against French colonisation from 1954–1962. The film was made in 1966, by Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo. The Battle of Algiers became the 'struggle film' for revolutionaries all across the African continent. In many circles it is considered the best film ever made on the struggle against colonisation on the continent. A must see, critical to the Kaza Kamba Theatre Festival theme, Memory Against Forgetting.

Duration: 120 minutes

This workshop explores how independent arts spaces can be created and sustained despite limited resources. Hayleigh Evans of POPArt shares practical lessons from running a performing arts centre since 2012. Drawing on the experience of Sir Alba Tutoring and Arts Academy, the session also highlights challenges faced by township organisations, including limited support, lack of affordable venues, and financial constraints, while encouraging creative, community-driven solutions.

Duration: 120 minutes.

Rhythm, Storytelling and African Philosophy is a creative workshop for young people aged 13–18, using djembe drumming, storytelling and African philosophy to inspire self-expression, collaboration and connection. Participants will work with Sibusiso “Vonde-r” Fihlani, a drama therapist, activist and storyteller, and oThandiwe Lerato Sekhibane, an academic, child advocate and theatre maker, to create an original performance. Rooted in transformation, the workshop encourages creativity, critical thinking and community through the arts


Duration: 120 minutes.

Ernest Ginger Baleni is a Johannesburg-based movement director, choreographer, director, and performer. He is widely recognized for his physical theater work, including directing Vuyelwa Maluleke's acclaimed one-woman production The Blue Album, for which he earned a Naledi Theatre Award nomination.

Ginger trained and danced with the Vuyani Dance Theatre under the direction of Gregory Maqoma, performing locally and internationally. He grounded his artistic style in the expressive relationship between the body and text. Ginger serves as an educator, teaching part-time at Moving into Dance Mophatong and conducting Saturday classes at the National Children’s Theatre.


Duration: 120 minu

In Word Down the Line, poet Lesego Rampolokeng literally goes down the line, travelling the country and tracking down frontline poets who have inspired and provoked him.

Rampolokeng engages with James Matthews, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Mafika Gwala, Jeremy Cronin, Boitumelo Mofokeng, Maishe Maponya, Sandile Dikeni, Vonani Bila, Khulile Nxumalo, Kgafela oa Magogodi and Makahafula Vilakazi. They reflect on how far we’ve come, where we’re going and what the future holds.

75minutes. Filmmaker present.

Rising for Palestine is a groundbreaking anthology exploring the connections between African liberation struggles and the Palestinian cause. Highlighting decades of solidarity, the collection examines shared histories of colonialism, dispossession, and resistance, from Namibia and the Congo to Western Sahara and Palestine. It argues that these struggles are interconnected and that remembering one requires remembering them all. Through essays and reflections, the book underscores the importance of memory, justice, and collective liberation.

Editors: Raouf Farrah and Suraya Dadoo.

Duration: 120 minutes

What begins as a split-second act of compassion becomes a fight for survival. Didier, a Congolese refugee and e-hailing driver in Johannesburg, rescues seven-year-old Sandile during a kidnapping attempt, only to be wrongly accused of abducting him. Hunted by both the kidnappers and police operating under a shoot-to-kill order, Didier must navigate a city clouded by xenophobia while confronting the trauma of his past. As danger closes in, protecting Sandile becomes his chance at redemption.

Written, directed by, and starring Christ Djuma, Rearview is a gripping thriller that explores courage, identity, prejudice, and the enduring power of humanity.

30 minutes. Filmmaker present

Arthur Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell is one of literature’s great acts of revolt: a feverish descent into language, violence and transformation. A Season in Hillbrow brings that fire into post-apartheid Johannesburg, where young people from Hillbrow turn the city’s abandonment and restless multilingual life into poetry, movement, voice and collective rebellion. Hell becomes a charged space of love, dreams, burning desire, and fierce survival right here, right now.

Duration: 45 minutes

Sudan Remember Us is a 2024 documentary by Hind Meddeb that follows young Sudanese activists who helped overthrow Omar al-Bashir’s 35-year dictatorship during the 2019 uprising. Through their stories, the film captures the hopes, setbacks and resilience that followed, including the 2021 military coup and the outbreak of civil war in 2023. Sudan Remember Us premiered in the Giornate degli Autori section of the 81st Venice International Film Festival in August 2024.

Duration: 80 minutes

Marikana Still…fontein is inspired by the spirit of the Marikana miners. This multidisciplinary piece revisits the Marikana massacre as both memory and mirror.

The massacre reminds us of the fungibility of Black lives, through which capital seeks to reproduce itself. Through music, poetry, movement and theatre skits the show traces the long history of migrant labour, displacement and mineral extraction that continues to shape South Africa today.

Arthur Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell is one of literature’s great acts of revolt: a feverish descent into language, violence and transformation. A Season in Hillbrow brings that fire into post-apartheid Johannesburg, where young people from Hillbrow turn the city’s abandonment and restless multilingual life into poetry, movement, voice and collective rebellion. Hell becomes a charged space of love, dreams, burning desire, and fierce survival right here, right now.

Duration: 45 minutes

Behind the walls of a respected family lies a secret too painful to ignore. When Purity Munanda finds herself trapped in a room with her father, Professor Jairus Munanda, the years of silence, fear, and buried trauma come crashing to the surface. What begins as a tense confrontation soon unfolds into a gripping battle of truth, power, and survival as dark family secrets are exposed. The facade cracks when the silence breaks.

Written by Fred Mbogo and Directed by Alacoque Ntome the play stars Emmanuel Shikuku and Ann Kiveli.
Duration: 1hr10min

Skierlik is based on a tragic South African events that took place on 14 January 2008 that took place in the small informal settlement of Skierlik. The play takes us on a personal journey, where Thomas returns to his home of Skierlik, years after he left. It is the place where he tragically lost his daughter and wife.

This is heartfelt, traumatic, and thought provoking story, told by one of South Africa’s best storytellers, award winning writer and actor Phillip Dikotla. Phillip paints poetic pictures in the telling of this tragic story of love, loss and material dispossession.

Duration: 75 minutes