Deadline looms for eThekwini SMMEs eyeing Lions’ Den opportunity
Small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in the eThekwini Municipality have only a few hours remaining to submit applications for the 2026 Lions’ Den Business Plan Competition, with the deadline set for 30 April.
The eThekwini Municipality has opened entries for the annual programme, which aims to support local entrepreneurs and co-operatives with innovative business ideas. The initiative offers participants access to mentorship, business development support, funding opportunities, and connecting with partners and investors.
The competition is designed to promote sustainable entrepreneurship and strengthen competitiveness across the city. It features three categories, including emerging businesses with an annual turnover of under R100 000; established businesses with a turnover between R100 000 and R500 000, and high-performing enterprises with a turnover exceeding R500 000.
Application forms are available online at https://tinyurl.com/397eth77 or on the municipality’s website or www.durban.gov.za under the Business tab. Forms can also be accessed at all Sizakala Centres, Durban Small Enterprise Development Agency offices, and the city’s SMME Development offices at 199 Anton Lembede Street.
Applicants may also request forms via email at yanga.nyakeni@durban.gov.za. Completed applications must be submitted before the close of business on Thursday, 30 April.
Chairperson of the city’s Economic Development and Planning Committee, Thembo Ntuli, said the competition continues to play a vital role in empowering local entrepreneurs.
“Over the years, the programme has supported entrepreneurs to grow, create jobs and access networks. It remains a powerful platform for turning ideas into thriving businesses,” Ntuli said.
Previous winner Kwanele Mngoma, founder of KIK Refrigerator Rentals, said the competition’s funding expanded his capacity and sharpened his business skills, preparing the company for growth and exposure.
“The R40 000 cash prize allowed us to acquire 10 additional refrigerator units, significantly increasing our capacity. Before this, the main constraint was not demand but the availability of units.
“With the new refrigerators, we have reached more customers, boosted revenue and strengthened operations. Today, KIK Refrigerator Rentals employs 10 people, creating more opportunities for our team.
“The exposure and networking with other entrepreneurs were invaluable, opening doors for learning and collaboration,” Mngoma said, adding that the competition also helped sharpen his business skills through pitching sessions, masterclasses and mentorship.
For enquiries on the competition, contact 031 309 8280. – SAnews.gov.za
International Workers’ Day, 1 May, was celebrated at the compound of the Plastic Factory in Dubarwa at the Southern Region level on 28 April under the theme “Workers’ Organization: Motivator for Development.”
At the event, in which workers from various institutions took part, Mr. Tekeste Mihreteab, head of the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers in the Southern Region, said that the day is being observed at a time when the world is facing increasing instability, and serves as a reminder to strengthen struggle and resilience.
Mr. Tekeste went on to say that, over the past year, the Southern Region has conducted organization and reorganization activities in 21 institutions, as well as training programs on health, administration and leadership, and financial and material management in the sub-zones of Dekemhare and Mendefera.
Noting that the history of Eritrean workers is the cornerstone of the country’s political ideology, Ms. Amete Neguse, secretary of the PFDJ in the region, called on the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers to strive to enhance the organizational capacity and productivity of workers.
At the event, the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students, the National Union of Eritrean Women, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, and Teachers’ Association in the region delivered messages of solidarity.
Similarly, International Workers’ Day was enthusiastically commemorated in Keren at the Anseba Region level on 28 April under the theme “Workers’ Organization: Motivator for Development,” featuring various programs depicting the day.
Noting the efforts Eritrean workers are exerting to ensure their rights and fulfill their national obligations through enhanced unity and awareness, Mr. Atobrhan Gebrat, head of the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers in the region, said that the confederation’s organization in 2025 registered an 18% increase.
Mr. Tsehaye Hagos, head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare branch in the region, said that, as indicated in Eritrea’s Labor Proclamation No. 118/2001, organizing workers has significant importance beyond ensuring rights and obligations, including strengthening professional capacity, awareness, and productivity.
Mr. Mulu’e Tesfamariam, head of Political Affairs of the PFDJ in the region, and Col. Kibrom Nirayo, Director General of Social Services, on their part, called on workers to strengthen their organizational capacity and productivity, as well as their participation in national affairs.
International Workers’ Day is being observed for the 35th time at the national level and for the 136th time at the international level.
The ECOWAS Commission, under the leadership of its Vice-President, H.E. Damtien L. TCHINTCHIBIDJA, convened in Praia, Republic of Cabo Verde, on 27 April 2026, a national advocacy and awareness session on the ECOWAS Vision 2050, bringing together government authorities, the diplomatic corps, private sector actors, civil society organisations, and technical and financial partners to advance stakeholder ownership and national appropriation of the Community’s long-term strategic framework, while promoting inclusive dialogue on its implementation and reinforcing the transition towards an ECOWAS of Peoples, within a coordinated regional sensitisation exercise simultaneously conducted in Cabo Verde, The Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire.
Delivering her address, the Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Damtien L. TCHINTCHIBIDJA, underscored the centrality of citizens in the new vision, stating that “ECOWAS exists to serve its people, and Vision 2050 is about ensuring that our programmes respond directly to their needs and aspirations.” She further emphasized that, at fifty years, the organisation is at a critical juncture of reflection and repositioning, noting that “peace and security remain the bedrock upon which all development and integration efforts must stand.”
The Director General for External Policy and Regional Integration of Cabo Verde, Dr. Carlos Fernandes Semedo, reaffirmed Cabo Verde’s commitment to the regional project, highlighting that “regional integration cannot remain at the level of governments alone, it must be owned by citizens, the private sector and civil society.” He pointed to Cabo Verde’s strategic contributions in governance, maritime security, renewable energy, tourism and the blue economy as key assets to the Community.
In her intervention, the Acting Resident Representative of the ECOWAS Commission in Cabo Verde, Dr. Kelly Lopes, described Vision 2050 as “not just a strategic document, but the expression of a collective ambition to build a fully integrated, peaceful and prosperous West Africa.” She stressed that “its success depends on strong leadership, political will and shared responsibility among all stakeholders.”
Providing a technical perspective, the Acting Director of the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate, Dr. Onyinye ONWUKA, highlighted the preventive dimension of the Community’s peace architecture, stating that “early warning is about collecting and analysing credible data before risks escalate, because prevention is always better than response.” She further explained that the system is “people-centred, focusing on human security across governance, health, environment and security sectors, to support informed decision-making at all levels.”
At the operational level, the Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission reiterated the importance of expanding the Early Warning architecture to Cabo Verde, noting that “a regional system is only as strong as its weakest link, and Cabo Verde’s full integration into this mechanism is essential.” She welcomed the positive engagement of national authorities towards the establishment of a national early warning centre.
The session further benefited from a high-level technical presentation on the ECOWAS Vision 2050, jointly delivered by Dr. Mamadu MUDJATABA BALDÉ, Head of Planning, Programming and Coordination at the Directorate of Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Malick BABAH DAOUDA, Programme Officer for Strategic Development and Analysis in the Office of the Vice-President, and Ms Isa Morais Rodrigues, Coordinator of the ECOWAS National Office in Cabo Verde.
The presentation provided a structured and forward-looking overview of the transition from Vision 2020 to Vision 2050, articulating the Community’s long-term ambition around five interdependent strategic pillars, namely peace and security, governance and rule of law, economic integration and interconnectivity, inclusive and sustainable development, and social inclusion. Particular emphasis was placed on the consultative and evidence-based process underpinning the formulation of the Vision, as well as on the critical role of national ownership, institutional coherence and multi-stakeholder engagement in translating strategic priorities into measurable outcomes.
The presenters further highlighted that effective implementation will require strengthened coordination mechanisms at national level, sustained communication efforts and a citizen-centred approach capable of bridging regional policy frameworks with local realities across Member States. Participants were further briefed on key Community achievements, including the free movement protocol, regional energy and digital integration programmes, and initiatives supporting human capital development, all of which illustrate the tangible impact of ECOWAS policies across Member States.
While firmly anchored in Cabo Verde’s national context, the session reflects a broader regional dynamic, as parallel engagements in The Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire contribute to a synchronized rollout of the Vision 2050 awareness campaign, ensuring coherence, inclusivity and collective ownership across the Community. Going forward, the ECOWAS Commission will continue to engage Member States and national stakeholders through targeted advocacy, technical dialogue and institutional support, with a view to translating Vision 2050 into concrete actions that deliver peace, prosperity and sustainable integration for all West African citizens.
– on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Athens, April 29, 2026 HE Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi has held high-level talks in Athens focused on bilateral relations and recent regional developments.
His Excellency met separately on Wednesday with HE First Vice President of the Hellenic Republic’s Parliament Ioannis Plakiotakis; HE Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs Dora Bakoyannis; and HE Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandra Papadopoulou.
The meetings discussed ways to support and strengthen bilateral cooperation between Doha and Athens as well as the latest developments in the region.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Government of the Republic of Madagascar, through the Ministry of Industrialization and Private Sector Development, have signed a five-year Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) for the period 2026–2030.
The agreement was signed at UNIDO Headquarters in Vienna by UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller and Minister of Industrialization and Private Sector Development of Madagascar, Ny Riana Nampoina Raharimanjato, in the presence of representatives from both UNIDO and the Government of Madagascar.
The PCP is UNIDO’s innovative flagship model for accelerating sustainable economic and industrial development in a way tailored to a Member States’ unique priorities and needs. The signing marks a key milestone in UNIDO’s longstanding cooperation with Madagascar. It will accelerate the country’s journey towards becoming a competitive industrial hub in the Indian Ocean region. Building on a successful implementation of a Country Programme 2019-2023, this second phase was developed at the request of the Government of Madagascar and represents the first initiative of its kind in the country. The programme aims to diversify Madagascar’s economy, strengthen its industrial competitiveness, promote more local value addition and decent job creation – particularly for youth and women – and support the country’s transition towards a greener and more climate-resilient economy.
Under the leadership of the Government of Madagascar, the PCP will strengthen existing partnerships and forge new ones, including with the private sector, to build a diversified, competitive, inclusive and sustainable industrial economy.
Speaking at the ceremony, UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller said: “This new Programme for Country Partnership marks a new quality of cooperation between UNIDO and Madagascar. It provides a strategic framework to unlock Madagascar’s great industrial potential into concrete results, working together in key sectors such as agro-industry, entrepreneurship, green energy, skills development, and regional integration. The PCP will help create more local value and decent jobs, especially for youth and women, while strengthening Madagascar’s resilience and competitiveness in the region.”
Minister Ny Riana Nampoina Raharimanjato emphasized that the PCP represents a strategic shift, in line with the current vision for the refoundation of Madagascar: “Madagascar is moving from fragmented initiatives to an integrated, coordinated and government-led approach to industrial development. The PCP provides a unified strategic framework to align, structure and guide industrial actions, placing industrialization at the core of economic transformation through local value addition and a competitive productive sector.”
UNIDO and Madagascar will continue to work together to advance inclusive and sustainable industrial development by strengthening local value addition and regional integration.
– on behalf of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with the President of Hiroshima University, Mitsuo Ochi, in the presence of Prime Minister Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, Minister of Education and Technical Education Mohamed Abdel Latif, Vice President of the University Shinji Kaneko, and Japan’s Ambassador in Cairo Fumio Iwai.
Spokesman for the Presidency Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy said President El-Sisi expressed that Egypt valued the distinguished relations Egypt and Japan share and their longstanding partnership in the fields of basic and higher education. In this regard, the President commended the fruitful and constructive cooperation between Egypt and Hiroshima University.
The President also affirmed Egypt’s interest to expand cooperation with Japan in the fields of education and pedagogy to support Egypt’s efforts to develop curricula and enhance the quality and standards of education. This includes maximizing the benefits of modern technological applications in the education sector by keeping pace with the latest technological tools, including Artificial Intelligence, thereby contributing to equipping students with the best scientific methods and preparing them for the job market.
The President of Hiroshima University expressed his pleasure at visiting Egypt and meeting with the President, noting that the University highly values the longstanding cooperation with the Egyptian government. He also praised Egypt’s efforts to develop educational programs and the education system in general. The President of Hiroshima University added that during his visit to Egypt, he reviewed efforts related to the application of modern educational methods and reaffirmed the University’s commitment to continuing cooperation with the Egyptian government to strengthen fruitful collaboration and support Egypt’s priorities in this regard.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through its Virtual Learning Center for West Africa (VLC SFW), successfully conducted an online course entitled “Preventive Livestock Healthcare for the Frontline Animal Health Team for West Africa” from 26 January to 26 February 2026. This course aimed to introduce practical ways for veterinary paraprofessionals and veterinarians to shift from simply reacting to disease occurrence towards working with farmers to prevent disease and improve productivity.
A total of 524 participants from both public and private sector from West African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guinea, Senegal and Togo, were enrolled on the FAO Virtual Learning Centre for West Africa platform to benefit from the technical and social tools necessary to improve farm productivity and community resilience throughout the region.
This four-week course provided 24 hours of intensive training and was delivered through a flexible hybrid format. This model allowed busy frontline animal health professionals to participate in the course while maintaining their field activities. This course combined live webinars with smartphone-compatible self-paced study modules and interactive discussion forums with tutors. The delivery of this course was supported by a team of facilitators from FAO, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom), Veterinary Services of Ghana.
Empowering the frontline animal health professional: Shifting the paradigm from reactive emergency responses to a proactive preventive approach
By advocating for a “prevention is better than cure” philosophy, the training encouraged veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs) to work in closer partnership with farming families to mitigate health risks at the source. The course also emphasized the importance of teamwork- between public and private sectors, and between animal health professionals and the farming families they serve.
This approach not only safeguards animal welfare but also ensures the economic sustainability of animal health businesses and the livelihoods of small-scale producers. The course specifically addressed the needs of private-sector providers, emphasizing how a holistic preventive approach improves productivity and creates long-term value for small-scale livestock producers.
Participants who successfully completed the assessments, covering topics from biosecurity principles to gender-sensitive extension services, were awarded certificates of completion. Over the four-week period, learners explored a comprehensive range of topics, beginning with the economic benefits of preventive care and moving into gender-responsive service delivery.
The technical core of the course focused on practical biosecurity principles, vaccine and cold chain management, and sustainable strategies for parasite control, including the mitigation of drug resistance in gastrointestinal nematodes.
This Preventive Livestock healthcare course equips frontline services providers with knowledge to grow their businesses by ensuring the success of the communities they serve. It helps to move from emergency response and to a sustainable business model that benefits both the provider and the farmer.
The initiative marks a significant shift from reactive “firefighting” to proactive prevention, strengthening regional animal health systems and supporting small-scale producers.
“Prevention is truly the foundation of a resilient livestock sector,” stated Dr Joseph Abuh, from the Veterinary Services of Ghana. “By equipping our frontline teams with these competencies, we are ensuring that animal health services are not just a cost for the farmer, but a value-adding investment”, he insisted.
As a vetenary Officer serving at the frontline, this experience further deepens my commitment to advancing resilient animal health systems and contributing to the broader One Health agenda across Nigeria and West Africa.
Preventive Livestock Healthcare remains essential not only for animal welfare but also for public health, economic stability, and sustainable agricultural development. I am grateful to FAO for this important capacity-building initiative and remain committed to applying these insights to improve veterinary service delivery and support farming communities”, declared one of the participants after completing this course.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Regional Office for Africa.
On the 28th of April 2026, the Republic of Seychelles and the Republic of Moldova established diplomatic relations in the spirit of promoting bilateral cooperation and the strengthening of friendship.
The establishment of diplomatic relations is founded on the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respect for fundamental norms of international law. Similarly, to Seychelles, Moldova is a fellow member of the Forum of Small States and the Organization of La Francophonie.
The signing of the Protocol took place in New York between the Permanent Representative of Seychelles to the United Nations, Ambassador Vivianne FOCK TAVE, and the Permanent Representative of Moldova to the United Nations, Ambassador Gheorghe Leucă.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora, Republic of Seychelles.
In addition, the country has seen waves of military interventions by outside players like France, the US and most recently Russia. All have invested heavily in trying to contain the extremist threat in Mali.
But groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have continued to expand their influence. And in late April 2026 the military government found itself having to fend off coordinated attacks from separatists and jihadists across the country. The defence minister, General Sadio Camara, was killed.
Foreign interventions over the past decade have often misunderstood what was happening on the ground. Extremist groups have capitalised on issues such as land disputes, corruption, and resource competition to gain legitimacy, often aligning with the community’s tensions. The weakness of state institutions and security forces has allowed groups such as Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) to consolidate power.
These groups have adapted by forming alliances and tailoring their narratives to local grievances, prioritising immediate issues over ideological objectives.
We are political scientists who have researched the security situation in Mali and the Sahel. Our recently published paper showed that non-state armed groups in the Sahel, particularly in Mali, have emerged as key power brokers, shaping local governance by filling gaps left by weak state institutions.
While external actors such as France, the US and Russia have prioritised counter-terrorism and state-building, they often overlook the governance functions of non-state armed groups. These groups often provide essential services and gain local legitimacy.
Recognising the role of armed groups as local power holders does not mean accepting or legitimising their actions. However, ignoring this reality has led to policies that miss the mark. When interventions focus only on military solutions, they risk misunderstanding why people interact with these groups in the first place.
Our findings challenge conventional interventions that focus solely on defeating non-state armed groups or reinstating centralised state control. We argue that security solutions alone are insufficient. We advocate for a more nuanced approach that integrates the potential for non-state armed groups when it comes to governance, legitimacy and local agency. Non-state armed groups have provided governance over territories in countries like Colombia, Syria and South Sudan, among others.
Armed groups as de facto authorities
Armed groups in Mali are not just fighting forces. In many parts of the country, they play a more complex role. It is difficult to estimate the exact number of groups operating within Mali. The largest and best known, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, is a coalition of five organisations and claims to have over 10,000 fighters in the country.
In central and northern Mali, bordering Algeria, the state is often distant, absent or mistrusted. Armed groups step into this vacuum. They settle disputes, enforce rules, collect taxes, and sometimes provide a basic sense of order.
For communities living with daily insecurity, these functions are not abstract; they shape everyday life.
Our study established that this does not necessarily mean the population agrees with these groups or supports their ideology. Many do not. However, when there are few alternatives, people adapt. They follow the rules because they need to survive, not because they believe in them.
This distinction is important. This helps explain why these groups are so difficult to dislodge. Their strength does not come only from weapons but also from how deeply they are embedded in local realities.
Why military strategies fall short
International efforts have largely focused on fighting these groups and rebuilding the authority of the Malian state. Although well intentioned, these kinds of interventions often overlook something essential: what happens to the spaces these groups leave behind?
An example is France’s 2013 intervention. The French army helped the Malian army to regain control of the northern part of the country from advancing Islamists during Operation Serval. The aim was to stop extremist forces from advancing to Bamako. This did not end the conflict. Many fighters moved to rural areas where the state had little presence and built ties with local communities.
In central Mali, where cattle farming is a key source of income, this dynamic contributed to the spread of violence between Fulani and Dogon communities, reinforcing grievances exploited by extremist groups.
Faced with this reality, people often turn to whoever can offer some level of predictability and protection, even if that actor is an armed group.
External involvement has also become increasingly fragmented. France’s withdrawal, rising anti-western sentiment, and the arrival of Russian-linked forces have created a crowded and sometimes conflicting intervention landscape.
Different actors bring different agendas, and their presence does not always translate into greater security. In some cases, it can even worsen things by reinforcing tensions or weakening trust in already fragile institutions.
Caught in the middle, civilians make difficult choices daily. Their decisions are rarely ideological but rather about survival.
Rethinking the response
We conclude from our findings that a more grounded approach would begin by listening to local realities. It would address the gaps that allow armed groups to take root. This means improving access to justice and security, supporting local institutions, and taking grievances seriously. It also means recognising that legitimacy is built from the ground up, not imposed from above.
Mali’s experience shows that there are clear limits to what military force can achieve on its own. As long as interventions overlook the everyday realities of governance and survival, they are unlikely to bring about lasting change. Until that shift happens, armed groups will remain hard to dislodge, not only because they can fight but also because, in many places, they have become part of how life is organised.
– Mali’s armed groups fill a government vacuum – addressing this is key to ending the violence – https://theconversation.com/malis-armed-groups-fill-a-government-vacuum-addressing-this-is-key-to-ending-the-violence-281648
Rock paintings are found throughout Zimbabwe. They were made during the last 10,000 years by hunter gatherer groups and later by farming communities.
These came to the attention of the ERC Artsoundscapes project, based in Spain, in 2021. The project brings together experts in archaeology, ethnography, psychology and acoustic engineering to explore how humans understood sound in prehistoric times. Our team has studied some of the rock art of South Africa in which dance scenes are depicted, and we have begun work on documenting and analysing similar rock art in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s rock paintings are concentrated in the country’s eastern provinces, which is where we’ve focused so far. More can be found in the Matobo World Heritage Cultural Landscape in Matabeleland South, which will be the focus of future study.
We have published an article describing dance scenes in this rock art and comparing them with information from ethnographic sources to understand what kinds of dances they depict. The ethnographic research was done by anthropologists and focused on hunter gatherer groups in the broader southern African region (Botswana and Namibia).
We found that all the kinds of dances that have been described in living cultures – dances for ritual, entertainment or special circumstances – are depicted in Zimbabwe’s rock art. But ritual is a central theme.
This points to the need to refine our classification of rock art scenes. We’ve been using features like the body posture of depicted figures to classify a scene as a dance. But ritual dances often involve going into a trance state – and this alters a person’s ability to control their body, move in synchrony with other people and follow “rules” of a dance. Therefore, it may be necessary to reconsider whether some rock art scenes in Zimbabwe, and in the whole of southern Africa, depict dances or not.
Here we will discuss some examples of the rock art in Zimbabwe and explain how we categorised them.
Analytical method
We reviewed published works by archaeology researchers such as the late Peter Garlake and university professor Ancila Nhamo. We also used online resources, including the British Museum online collection by rock art photographer and author David Coulson, which features rock art from Zimbabwe and other southern African countries.
Our inquiry aimed to determine whether all dances that have been recognised ethnographically, in living people, in Zimbabwe as well as in other countries of southern Africa, are also represented in Zimbabwe’s rock art.
We analysed the scenes by applying six attributes that have proved useful in studies in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and the western Mediterranean. The attributes are divided into those related to the dancers themselves and those related to the type of dance. They are:
dancers’ body posture (including bent figures, outstretched arms and flexed legs)
items they hold, such as sticks, rattles, or headgear
interaction between dancers
evidence of synchrony
direction of movement
gender of the figures represented.
Dance scenes in Zimbabwe rock art
Using these attributes, we can say that a scene such as this one found at Lake Chivero is a dance because it has several men all wearing aprons, displaying the same body posture, and positioned in synchrony with outstretched arms.
Lake Chivero dance.Picture by Ancila Nhamo (with permission), Author provided (no reuse)
Yet, in other scenes we encountered unexpected problems with the second group of attributes (type of dance). Those were designed to analyse dance scenes in other parts of the world with different belief systems. But they are not always valid when dancers engage in trance dances.
One example of this type of scene that does not follow the norm is found at a site called Chivhu. A series of therianthropes (figures with both human and animal features) were painted associated with a large snake bearing two animal heads. In the scene we analysed there, the interaction between dancers is irregular, their movements are not synchronised, and the direction of the dance is not homogeneous, as would be expected in a regular dance. But regular interaction, synchronisation and uniform direction are simply not possible when dancers are in an altered state of consciousness. So, this scene might not look like a dance but it probably is one, based on what we know from studies of living people in cultures associated with the makers of the rock art.
Chivhu danceHuffman 1983, Author provided (no reuse)
Other dances recognised ethnographically as being of ritual character are initiation dances. An example of a dancing scene which may indicate a boys’ initiation dance can be found at a rocky outcrop in Glen Norah, Harare. American anthropologist Lorna Marshall, who undertook fieldwork among the !Kung people of the Kalahari Desert in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, described how the !Kung boys from Nyae Nyae in Namibia in the 1950s sometimes bent their upper bodies into an almost right-angle posture while dancing. The dancers in the painted scene are accompanied by other men who are not participating in the dance. These kinds of initiation dances are not documented or practised in Zimbabwe, however. So although the painted scene looks like an initiation dance, it probably isn’t one.
Rock art may also depict eland dances, the girls’ initiation dance. For example, dancing scenes depicting only women that may be interpreted as eland dances are found in Chipinge and Mudadi in Zimbabwe’s Chivi district.
Mudadi dance in Chivi district in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe.Photo Courtesy of Ancila Nhamo, Author provided (no reuse)
The Makonde dance from Mashonaland West, which features more than 30 performers, is not easy to interpret. It is not clear whether this represents a large dance scene or if the dancers can be divided into different groups. Some individuals are clapping, while others are dancing, which may indicate the presence of trance dancers (group labelled b). Additionally, there are female dancers with tufts on their legs and wearing back aprons (group labelled a). These could be dancing for entertainment, because in reality for an eland dance (a ritual) they would probably remove the aprons.
Makonde dance.Picture from Garlake 1995, Fig. 73, Author provided (no reuse)
Categorising certain dances can be challenging, and some may have been performed purely for entertainment purposes. For example, there is a dancing scene at Charewa that depicts women, men, and possibly children participating. We propose that this could represent an entertainment dance or a dance in some particular circumstance where everyone joined in.
Charewa site, Dance Scene 1.Garlake 1987a, Fig. 10, Fourni par l’auteur
Other elements emerging from the analysis of the dance scenes found in Zimbabwean rock art include the presence of musical instruments and a variety of artefacts associated with the dancers. Hand rattles frequently appear in dancing scenes and have been recognised as the most depicted musical instruments in Zimbabwean rock art, as we’ve discussed in an article about musical instrument representations.
Dance scene at Chikupu northern cave.Garlake 1995, Fig. 76., Author provided (no reuse)
Dancers are sometimes depicted with dancing sticks or other accessories, not only rattles. For instance, some figures appear to be holding round discs that are difficult to identify at Chikupu.
Charewa Dance Scene 2.Garlake, Author provided (no reuse)
Moreover, dancers may be adorned with beads, as observed at Charewa Panel 2, and often wear distinctive headgear, typically resembling antennae, which may symbolise feathers as described in ethnographic accounts.
It’s important to accurately identify and describe these scenes. Our analysis highlights the valuable information that can be gleaned from close examination of the depictions, as well as from the use of ethnohistorical sources related to dance.
– Rock art, dance and ritual: what we learned from paintings in Zimbabwe – https://theconversation.com/rock-art-dance-and-ritual-what-we-learned-from-paintings-in-zimbabwe-279266
