Kimberley to Host Landmark Heritage Concert Honouring Sol Plaatje and Kgosi Luka Jantjie

The Northern Cape will take centre stage in South Africa’s cultural calendar as Classics on Turf, in partnership with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, presents a major heritage concert honouring two of the country’s most influential, yet often overlooked, figures: Kgosi Luka Jantjie and Sol Plaatje.

The Classics on Turf Heritage Concert will take place on Saturday, 24 October 2026, at the Mittah Seperepere Convention Centre in Kimberley. The event builds on the momentum of the recent Tiyo Soga tribute in Johannesburg and positions the Northern Cape not merely as a place on the map, but as a living archive of resistance, intellect and nation-building.

The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Yunus Ballim, inaugural Vice-Chancellor of Sol Plaatje University and Emeritus Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Prof Ballim’s connection to both honourees runs deep. It is not simply academic; it is also rooted in the restoration of dignity and memory.

As the university’s founding Vice-Chancellor, he championed the naming of its administrative building as Luka Jantjie House. In doing so, he formally honoured the resistance leader whose land was the first to be seized during the Kimberley diamond rush. Prof Ballim’s own contributions are recognised through Yunus Ballim Square, which is located in the central courtyard of Luka Jantjie House.

“There’s much more to this than just a concert,” says Vincent Zwelibanzi Mntambo, Patron of Classics on Turf. “We are convening a moment of cultural reawakening. The stories of Kgosi Luka Jantjie and Sol Plaatje are not dusty footnotes. They are the living DNA of our nation’s resilience and intellect.”

Mntambo adds: “This concert continues the work we began with the Tiyo Soga tribute, an ongoing reflection on the unsung heroes who have helped build this nation. In partnership with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, we are answering the call for an African Renaissance by returning to the source.

“This is about restoring and actively recovering our history, ensuring that the next generation knows the names, the struggles and the brilliance that shaped their world. By owning this narrative, we honour our heroes and affirm that the Northern Cape is the undisputed heart of our heritage.”

The evening’s artistic direction is led by Maestro Kutlwano Masote, who will conduct the Northern Cape Symphony Orchestra alongside collaborative artists, including guest artist Vusi Mahlasela, the Northern Cape Youth Choir, the Sol Plaatje University Choir and other local cultural groups.

“Music is the most profound medium for memory,” says Masote. “It goes beyond the intellect and speaks directly to the soul of a people. Our approach is to weave the sounds of the Northern Cape soil with the grandeur of a classical orchestra from Kimberley itself, which is exciting. We blend heritage-infused arrangements, dramatic readings and the voices of our youth.”

The programme honours Jantjie as a symbol of resistance and sovereignty. He was the first independent African ruler to lose his land to colonial forces. His boycott of rural trading stores in the early 1890s was perhaps one of the earliest examples of non-violent resistance in colonial South Africa.

Plaatje is honoured as a giant of language, literature and early political organisation. He was a founding member of the South African Native National Congress, which later became the African National Congress. He translated Shakespeare into Setswana and authored Native Life in South Africa.