The ad hoc committee for Organising Musicians (AHCOM) will host a Pan-African Cultural Festival titled Africa Unite! at the Central Methodist Mission, on Greenmarket Square in Cape Town, on Saturday, June 20.
They are a grassroots collective of music workers and cultural professionals dedicated to improving the working conditions and livelihoods of musicians in Cape Town.
Last month, they launched the #WeDon’tPlay campaign at Guga S’Thebe in Langa, which focused on "Our Conditions of Work": https://linktr.ee/AHCOMCPT.
The festival is in response to rising Afrophobic sentiment and violence within South Africa.
"It aims to celebrate the various national and cultural groups that our society is made up of, and remind each other that national borders are not natural," read their statement.
Performers include poets and musicians based in Cape Town with roots in Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Eswatini, Cameroon, and elsewhere across our beautiful continent.
The event will run from 1pm until 4pm.
Entry is free, with donations accepted to cover logistical costs.
AHCOM member Stanley Sibande said: "There has been a large amount of coverage of the hateful conduct and sentiment of anti-mmigration groups around the country, but we believe that this event will demonstrate and celebrate the possibilities that come from communing and sharing culture from across our continent."
Organisers hope that the the event will push back against the senseless violence and hate seen "slowly engulfing our beautiful country".
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