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Arts Correspondent

National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) will hand over the popular Jerusarema Mbende Festival to the Murehwa community on October 28. In a statement NACZ said the move was meant to empower local communities through arts and culture.“National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) will this year handover Jerusarema Mbende Dance Festival to Murewa community with national training and conference of the Arts in Zimbabwe (NATCAZ) being a key partner in organising the Festival.

This year’s edition will be organised by NACZ with NATCAZ to ensure a smooth transition that will ensure continuity of the annual festival and thereafter Murehwa community will run the festival,” reads the statement.

The arts governing board said all was done in consultation with the community that has since accepted.

“A meeting was held between NACZ and Chief Mangwende to initiate the handover process and the idea was well accepted. This is consistent with NACZ and Government’s vision of empowering local communities through arts and culture,” it said.

This is not the first time the arts organisation has handed over festivals to communities. The same was done to Intwasa KoBulawayo (Bulawayo), Rainbow Arts Festival (Matabeleland South), and Dzimbabwe Arts Festival (Masvingo) among many others.

NACZ said takes pride in ensuring that the Murehwa and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe communities greatly benefit from the festival as has always been the norm.

“The handing over of the festival is NACZ’s vision to ensure Murewa community continue to embrace, promote and safeguards Jerusarema Mbende which is a critical Intangible Cultural Heritage element within the Murehwa community,” read the statement.

Mbende Jerusarema Dance was proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity with Murehwa Culture Centre acting as the reference place for safeguarding purposes.

It is performed by the community of Murehwa and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) in the North Eastern districts of Zimbabwe.

The ancient fertility dance was called Dembe or Mbende, a Shona word for “mole” which signified fertility and hence the dance became very popular with the locals.

The festival seeks to provide sustainable foundations for the transmission of skills to the younger generations and to promote awareness of the value of the dance as well as the importance to safeguard the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

NATCAZ is a registered arts organisation based in Murehwa.