By Maeder Osler
Molweni ! Dagsê ! Greetings !
Welcome also, to another building block of communication and trade dynamics in the form of the successful reappearance last weekend of the Colesberg Sheep Festival.
The revived festival is an obvious tribute to a major economic and farming pillar of the town, district and region, as well as Colesberg’s strateigic location on our main national highway at the centre of the country. It also speaks to Colesberg’s ongoing economic viabillity.
Nowadays, it is noteworthy how many major commercial brands are present in the town. And all of this has led to a proliferation of communication around Colesberg — in addition to the likes of toverview, in the form of websites, local WhatsApps groups, social media acounts, and so on.
A major role player is the website Colesberg.info, which has carried a lively and informative report on the sheep festival.
All of this is working to advance the vision of communications silo-breakers such as Toverview and its predecessors, including Toverberg Indaba, to create a more informed local citizenry, more effective and accountable local government and, ultimately, a happier and more prosperous town which works to improve the lives of all its residents.
But like all struggles, this is a work in progress. In the meantime, herewith two lively video clips from the revived Colesberg Sheep Festival: the first, a gumboot dance by troupe from the Umthombo Wolwazi Intermediate Farm School, and the second, a spirited Rieldans.
TWO IMAGES: courtesy Colesberg.info. The gumboot dance video and the Rieldans video was taken by Estelle Jacobs from the Hantam Community Education Trust