Celebrating the Big 5 with eMzantsi Carnival

We closed off the show with an interview with Earl Mentor – Community Coordinator for eMzantsi Carnival. The 5th annual eMzantsi Carnival will take place tomorrow the 5th of December. This year’s theme is ‘The Big 5’, but the indigenous animals they are celebrating are not lions, giraffes or elephants but our local wildlife: the penguin, the whale, the baboon, the shark – and the leopard toad! More than 1000 people from communities across the south peninsula will take part in the parade down the Kommetjie Road, including 200 primary school children who have been learning drama, percussion and recycled costume-making skills in twinned intercultural groups. Grade 4-6 learners from Imhoff Waldorf and Marine Primary, Ocean View; Bay Primary and St James Primary, Kalk Bay; Kommetjie Primary and Ukhanyo Primary, Masiphumelele; Kleinberg Primary and the LSEN School (for Learners with Special Educational Needs), Ocean View; and Simon’sTown School and Ukhanyo Primary, will parade together wearing their Big 5 hats. In addition, Grade 10 learners from the 5 south peninsula high schools of Simonstown, Ocean View, Masiphumelele, Fish Hoek and Muizenberg will be modeling costumes they have made together with art-from-waste experts Ilitha Lomsa. For more information see www.emzantsi.org.za, email info@emzantsi.org.za, or call Zukie at the eMzantsi office on (021) 785 1515.