MBABANE – After one liSwati was nominated at this year’s South African Music Awards (SAMA), Arts and Culture says there are more to come.
This was revealed by Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (ENCAC) Chief Executive Officer Stanley Dlamini. He was asked by this publication if there was a move to have local artists recognised in the reputable awards; he revealed they have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the South African Arts and Culture Council. “We have a memorandum of understanding with the arts council of South Africa. That is why we have the meetings on African Charter and the Federation of Arts and Culture Council. We also have what we call a ‘charter’, if I can make an example this side, we have SADC Charter where its chairperson is from South Africa. The important thing that is being discussed here is removing the boundaries that prevent artists from participating abroad in such awards. One of the resolutions we are trying to agree on is that, let us not create the boundaries when it comes to artists,” he said.
This year’s SAMAs will be the 31st edition and nominees have already been revealed. Only Zee Nxumalo, a local artist based in South Africa, has been nominated. She will battle the likes of Kelvin Momo and Vigro Deep in the ‘Best Amapiano’ category. The awards ceremony will be held in November 2025 in a hybrid format, combining a live event with a global broadcast. Dlamini also revealed another pillar which allows the mobility of artists within borders. “We have a pillar of artist’s mobility. This entails that artists should travel and benefit anywhere in the region. So it starts in the region, goes to the continent and then to the world. They told us that when we come back for another sit down we have to put in one more standard MoU.
This one will include a chief executive officer from the country, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. This means we are in agreement that when there are awards like this, we should demonstrate that people get nominated in the region. If you notice, the Gospel Awards that we launched have artists from outside the country who have been nominated,” Dlamini said.
He also shared that they are now in the process of enabling artists to get nominated abroad. “There is what we call an Africa Charter for countries in the region. Borderlines should not define the creative sector.
“There will come a time when all this will be sorted out and artists will get nominated in the awards,” he said. Dlamini further shared examples of where there were demonstrations showing local craft being consumed abroad, to ascertain that it is possible for the artists to be part of the SAMAs. “There is no regulation or a policy that prevents our artists from being nominated. An artist gets nominated by their fans. If we say 60 per cent or 70 per cent of our artists’ work is consumed in South Africa, what can stop them from being nominated in South Africa.
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