WordFest returns: honouring Chris Mann’s legacy, embracing South Africa’s voices

Date Released: Tue, 30 September 2025 13:02 +0200

By Siqhamo Jama

 

When WordFest returned to Makhanda on 19-20 September 2025, it brought with it a chorus of memory and hope, voiced in various languages. For many in the audience, it felt like a homecoming. A festival that had almost vanished was back, carrying the spirit of its founder, the late Professor Chris Mann, and the promise of new beginnings.

WordFest was born in 1999 under Rhodes University’s Institute for the Study of the Englishes in Africa (ISEA). From the outset, Prof Mann imagined it as a stage where every South African language could matter. Writers from small towns, poets in isiXhosa or Afrikaans, students experimenting in English all found space here. That insistence on multilingualism set the festival apart, and over time it grew into a vital strand of the National Arts Festival.

Its momentum faltered in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic silenced public gatherings. Prof Mann’s passing in 2021 left the Fest without its driving force. For a while, it seemed that WordFest might remain a memory.

The 2025 edition proved otherwise. Professor MaDey’Andile (Deyi) Mbelani, who became Director of ISEA in 2022, set out to bring the event back. He drew on the support of Sonwabile Mfecane, who had worked closely with Prof Mann, and literary organiser Darryl David. Together they pieced WordFest back into shape.

“WordFest was never just about literature,” Prof Mbelani explained. “It was about giving ordinary people the chance to be heard. Reviving it was about hope as much as memory.”

The programme reflects that spirit of inclusivity. Over two days, audiences encountered poetry, theatre, and critical discussion across multiple languages. Sessions included One Race: The Legacy of Robert Sobukwe, a book by Luvuyo Dondolo; a performance by acclaimed Eastern Cape poets Mangaliso Buzani and Dolla Sapeta; and Dan Wylie’s lecture Death and Compassion: The Elephant in Southern African Literature. Panels on photography, short stories, and new poetry launches showcased the diversity of South Africa’s literary imaginations.

Day 2’s events moved between theatre, prose, and reflection. Siphiwo Mahala staged two of his plays, while Eben Venter presented his novel Decima. Etienne van Heerden explored memory and history in Mandela in the Tree, and Darryl Earl David offered a lyrical homage to travel in Karoosing. The day concluded with the Chris Mann Memorial Lecture and Concert, a moving tribute to the man whose dedication placed WordFest at the centre of South Africa’s literary culture.

While remembrance framed the weekend, its forward-looking vision was unmistakable. WordFest 2025 reaffirmed the role of literature in strengthening democracy, fostering understanding, and elevating voices too often left unheard. It reminded audiences that multilingualism is not a hurdle but a strength – a way of seeing the world from many vantage points at once.

Though unable to attend in person, Prof Mann’s widow sent her blessing – a gesture that gave the weekend’s renewal a profound symbolic weight.

As Prof Mbelani reflected afterwards: “Reviving WordFest was about honouring Chris Mann. But it was also about reminding ourselves that our democracy needs spaces like this – places where voices meet, argue, and imagine a future.”

With its return, WordFest has reclaimed its place as a gathering that belongs not only to the literary elite but also to communities, students, and readers who believe words still matter. It stands as both legacy and renewal – proof that South Africa’s many voices, carried together, can still find harmony.

Source:Communications