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Looking for a Heritage Month experience that goes beyond the usual?
The Botho Heritage International Festival returns to the Valley of 1000 Hills from 23 to 27 September, bringing African creativity, culture, storytelling and community to Wushwini Pan African Centre overlooking Inanda Dam. Now in its 12th edition, the festival is themed ‘Botho: I Am Because We Are’.
“At a time when indigenous knowledge continues to face erasure, cultural practices are increasingly commodified, and communities are searching for meaningful ways to reconnect with their identities, Botho places culture at the centre of public life. The festival asserts that heritage is not static. It is dynamic, evolving and deeply connected to who we are and how we imagine our future,” says convenor Jerry Pooe.
The programme brings together established and emerging artists, elders, young people, traditional and contemporary practitioners, and voices from Africa and beyond.
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Five days of heritage, art and celebration
Each day of the festival has its own theme and focus, creating a programme that moves from ancestral remembrance and storytelling to fashion, movement, food and music.
Wednesday, 23 September – The Invocation: Opening the Circle
The festival opens by honouring those who came before, with ancestral welcome rituals, indigenous libation, drum calls, chants, poetry, installations and reflections.
The day also sees the launch of the Wushwini Indigenous Orchestra, before a Pan-African music concert, fireworks and a Night Museum Walk through illuminated artistic installations.
- Date: Wednesday, 23 September
- Focus: Opening ceremony, ancestral rituals, music and installations
- Evening highlight: Pan-African music concert, fireworks and Night Museum Walk
- Time: Night Museum Walk from 6pm
- Entry: R50 at the door
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Thursday, 24 September – Heritage Day: Story as Resistance
Heritage Day puts storytelling centre stage, with a full-day Theatre Feast, Africa Arts Indaba, creative workshops, masterclasses, film and intellectual exchanges.
Topics include decolonisation, cultural economies, sustainability, Pan-African collaboration and indigenous knowledge systems.
The evening programme, Beyond Limits: The Spirit in Motion, celebrates artists whose creativity challenges perceived limitations, bringing together disabled and blind performers, musicians and creatives from diverse backgrounds.
- Date: Thursday, 24 September
- Focus: Theatre, storytelling, film, workshops and dialogue
- Evening programme: Beyond Limits: The Spirit in Motion
- Time: Evening programme from 6pm
- Entry: R50 at the door
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Friday, 25 September – Embodiment: We Wear, Move & Speak Our Heritage
On Friday, heritage takes physical form through fashion, literature, dance, theatre and music.
The programme includes a Heritage Fashion Showcase, literature circles and readings, experimental and community theatre, traditional and contemporary dance, followed by an evening celebration featuring percussion, vocalists, Afro-soul and traditional ensembles.
- Date: Friday, 25 September
- Focus: Fashion, literature, dance, theatre and music
- Evening programme: Percussion, vocalists, Afro-soul and traditional ensembles
- Time: Evening programme from 6pm
- Entry: R50 at the door
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Saturday, 26 September – Ubuntu Walk: Movement as Healing
Saturday takes Botho beyond the festival grounds with the Ubuntu Walk, bringing participants together through walking, rhythm, singing, storytelling and collective movement.
Starting at 6am, routes will connect surrounding communities with Wushwini, with participants encountering community rest stations, storytelling points, music and moments for reflection along the way.
The afternoon continues with open-air dance and community performances, before the evening becomes an Ubuntu Soundscape, blending traditional African sounds with house, Afro-tech, jazz and hip-hop.
- Date: Saturday, 26 September
- Ubuntu Walk: From 6am
- Focus: Community, walking, storytelling, music and movement
- Afternoon: Open-air dance and community performances
- Evening: Ubuntu Soundscape from 6pm
- Entry: R50 at the door
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Sunday, 27 September – Thanksgiving & Communion
The festival winds down around the table with food, music, faith and gratitude.
Chilled jazz begins at noon, followed by the Heritage Food Festival, celebrating indigenous cuisine and the stories carried through food. Elders will lead cooking demonstrations and knowledge-sharing sessions.
Jazz conversations and performances will also take place before the festival closes with gospel and sacred music, a reflection and gratitude ritual, and the symbolic Passing of the Flame to the next edition.
- Date: Sunday, 27 September
- Start time: Noon
- Focus: Food, cooking, jazz, gospel and reflection
- Evening: Closing and Passing of the Flame
- Entry: R50 at the door
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A festival for generations
One of the defining ideas behind Botho 2026 is bringing different generations, communities and forms of creative expression together.
The festival creates space for elders to share knowledge, young people to engage with and reshape their heritage, and artists to explore the relationship between tradition and innovation.
It also brings together urban and rural communities, artists with and without disabilities, indigenous knowledge and new creative technologies, and traditional and contemporary practitioners.
The result is a festival that aims to put heritage into practice – on stage, in the street, around the table, in the gallery and in the hands of the next generation.
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What you need to know
- Event: Botho Heritage International Festival
- Theme: Botho: I Am Because We Are
- Dates: Wednesday, 23 – Sunday, 27 September 2026
- Venue: Wushwini Pan African Centre, KwaNgcolosi, Valley of 1000 Hills
- Entry: R50 at the door daily for productions, events and shows
- Programme: Available through Wushwini Pan African Centre on Facebook | @wushwini_arts on Instagram| Wushwini Pan African Centre website
Head to the Valley of 1000 Hills this September and become part of the gathering.
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