Under the SMkN Foundation is the formation of the KaNcube Academy for the Performing Arts (KAPA), with its satellite pilot the Merafong Performing Arts Incubation (MPAI) in the formally known, Carletonville. KAPA is going to be a one stop shop training excellence in the performing arts this country has ever seen. It will be elevating the tapestry of our diverse cultural prowess to the next millennium while creating social Cohesion.
With 22 students all of whom are unemployed or had difficulties acquiring employment after matriculating and could not afford higher education. The incubation offers them the opportunity to explore their potential to be in the creative industry. Situated in an area such as the Merafong District, potential careers and employment are limited to mining, nursing, teaching and various technical or vocational education and skills developments.
The incubation was funded by the Manzi Golden Economy a subsidiary of the Department of Arts and Culture with the support of the in the Gauteng Province initiated the Merafong Performing Arts Incubation. It aims to equip students with all three (3) necessary skills required in the performing arts industry, Dramatic arts, Music and Dance.
AfriMan Rising Campaign is a Sello Maake kaNcube Foundation gender based violence campaign, started with the support of Tshwane University of Technology. Its aim is in sensitising young men at tertiary institution on Gender issues. It derives inspiration from the state of utter desperation and hopelessness our society finds itself in; owing in the main to the scourge of violence and abuse suffered by women, the girl-child and young boys. The movement is a clarion call to action. A renewed activism and a thorough going quest for the normalization of a country, with a devastatingly horrid history of a culture of violence and abuse against its most vulnerable members of society. It is an effort to encourage individuals, especially fathers, to be involved in the lives of their children. Most importantly to be positive role models and mentors for the children in their lives and communities.
AfriMan Rising Campaign is propelled by a play, KOMENG. The play was created in 1998 with a group of young men who were part of the men’s program started by Agisanang Domestic Abuse Programme and Training, (ADAPT). It is based on four childhood friends coming together one day and finding themselves having to confront their maligned pretentious friendship and coming terms with their toxic, distorted perception of masculinity.
The play highlights social ills like gender-based violence, incest and the malicious relationships the men have with women in their lives and then calling each other out. It makes use of minimalistic stage setting - humor, irony, satire, hyperbole, euphemisms, proverbs, etc. Characters come alive and relate to the audience in terms of local traditional names and lingo, and geographical area.
With an average 31% Black children being raised by their fathers in South Africa and an understanding based on the premise that responsible fatherhood benefits children’s development as well as the formation of families and societies that better reflect gender equity and respect children’s rights, the Sello Maake kaNcube Foundation held a 16 days of Activism campaign in Orlando West, Soweto, centered on a Fathers and Sons conversation in order to rebuild the image of fatherhood in Soweto, promote the important contribution fathers make in their children’s lives, provide the education and support needed to prepare men for fatherhood and raise enough awareness about the role fathers play in families and society at large.
We were able to able raise awareness around the issue of fatherhood in Soweto to the people of Soweto, creating momentary enthusiasm for our community members to be a step ahead in society, in partnership with the Sakhumzi Restaurant at Vilakazi Street, Orlando West Soweto, which attracts a maximum of 500 people a day during the December season and Soweto TV, which has a viewership of 1,7 Million Sowetans.
We had the support of Jozi Fm, which encouraged their listeners to participating in such conversations as well as social media platforms, which promoted the engagement around the conversation of Fathers and sons.
Sello Maake kaNcube stages 10 women, 10 stories. With Gender Based Violence against women and children on an alarming raise, we as the foundation have dedicated our resources and channeled them towards projects that should create any form of dialogue around this devastating subject matter. As a result, we have adopted the story of 10 women who have survived rape, domestic violence, discrimination and exclusion by telling their stories through a theater play. We will be communicating to a different but extended audience.
In Partnership with Touch HD, the Founder of the Sello Maake KaNcube Foundation, Mr Maake KaNcube himself is hosting a podcast called Open up with Sello where he discusses topics such as manhood, womanhood, social cohesion, equality, absent fathers, divorce , illness, family values, social relationships and many more. The show is streamed live every Sunday at 12pm on Touch HD.
