AfTA conference opening underscores the power of partnerships

Academics

9 July 2026

By Gerrit Bester

The opening of the 20th African Theatre Association (AfTA) 2026 conference, hosted by the Tshwane University of Technology's (TUT’s) Faculty of Arts and Design (Department of Performing Arts) on 7 July, launched three days of dialogue on the evolving role of Afrikan performance in shaping knowledge, identity and social transformation.

AfTA-a Dr Vathi Papu-Zamxaka, TUT's Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Engagement. Delegates from 27 universities across Africa, Europe, North America, and the Caribbean gathered at the Malombo Theatre (SA State Theatre) in Pretoria, where scholarship, creativity and performance converged.

In a pre-recorded video message, Dr Vathi Papu-Zamxaka, TUT's Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Engagement, welcomed guests: "We are delighted to host delegates from across Africa and the African diaspora, as well as colleagues from around the world, who have gathered to share a diversity of ideas, research, creative practice and experience in African and African diasporic theatre and performance. Your presence enriches this gathering and affirms the importance of sustained dialogue across borders, disciplines and artistic traditions."

The conference theme, Interartistic Afrikan Performing Arts in the 21^st Century: De/Post-Colonial Performance, Places and Pedagogies, invites critical reflection on how Afrikan performance continues to evolve in response to contemporary realities.

AfTA-b Dr Rostislava Pashkevitch Ngobeni, Head of the TUT Department of Performing Arts. Dr Papu-Zamxaka explained: "It encourages us to explore intersections between theatre, dance, music, visual arts, digital media, ritual, storytelling and community-based performance. At a deeper intellectual level, it asks how performance engages with history, memory, identity, place-making, education and social transformation in decolonial and postcolonial contexts."

She expressed hope that the conference would deepen understanding of Afrikan performance traditions while inspiring new collaborations and research initiatives. Prof Pfunzo Sidogi, Assistant Dean: Research and Postgraduate Studies, and Dr Rostislava Pashkevitch-Ngobeni, Head of the Department of Performing Arts, representing the Faculty of Arts and Design, echoed this welcome.

The conference is supported by the City of Tshwane, along with two agencies of the Department of Sports Arts and Culture (DSAC), Freedom Park Heritage Site and the South African State Theatre, as integral partners, confirming the faculty’s emphasis on collaboration.

Dr Musa Khumalo, Governance and Support Officer (GSO) at the City of Tshwane, emphasised that performance transcends entertainment: "For Africa and its diaspora, the stage has always been a mirror and a weapon where we imagine our collective future. Your work ensures authentic stories are not lost but analysed, celebrated and projected onto the world stage."

AfTA-c Prof Pfunzo Sidogi, Assistant Dean: Research and Postgraduate Studies, TUT Faculty of Arts and Design. He called for robust, even uncomfortable debates to strengthen the creative economy across the continent.

Prof Sola Adeyemi, AfTA President, traced the association's origins to a shared vision of making global audiences aware of African culture. "We didn't want it to be Africans talking to themselves, not a family talking to themselves after dinner, but a global discussion."

Mr Shane Maja, CEO of the South African State Theatre and TUT Drama alumnus, stressed the timeliness of the conference: "The creative economy is no longer peripheral to this country's development. It is central to it. In Africa, performance has never been confined to the stage but is integral to our culture. The future of theatre will be built through collaborative partnerships like these."

Ms Tesh Tshivhase, Client Relations Manager at Freedom Park Heritage Site, underscored the natural alignment of this partnership: "Freedom Park is more than a heritage site. It is a centre of memory and national dialogue. Theatre shares this purpose. Long before written history, stories were performed. As Africans, we understand that storytelling is not simply entertainment. It is acknowledgement, knowledge, identity, resistance and healing. This conference matters because it brings together researchers and practitioners who challenge conventional thinking, preserve indigenous knowledge systems and create new artistic expressions."

AfTA-d Dr Musa Khumalo, Governance and Support Officer (GSO) at the City of Tshwane. The first day of the conference kicked off on 8 July on the TUT Arts Campus with revolutionary intellectual, Dr Lwasi Lushuba, giving the keynote address, On the Encounter Between Subject-centred Western Rationalist Knowledge and African Modes of Cognizing: Fragments of a Philosophical Reflection.

The conference programme features diverse scholarly, creative and practice-based contributions exploring how artists, scholars and practitioners continue to engage critically with colonial histories, ongoing decolonisation and emerging African futures.

For updates, visit the Tshwane University of Technology’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TUTCommunications/

The conscious choice to make use of the “k” in the Afrikan for the title is based on the factor that most vernacular or traditional languages on the continent spell Afrika with a K. The embracing K symbolises a kind of Lingua Afrikana, although coming from more than one Afrikan language.

Prof Sola Adeyemi, AfTA President. Mr Shane Maja, CEO of the South African State Theatre and TUT alumnus.