Siyanda Dlamini, 31, has been walking across the highways and byways of Southern Africa since January 2022 spreading a message of peace and stability and inspiring communities to take action to improve their lives.
The young man from Mandeni, KwaZulu-Natal, told Gateway News this week that his burden for peace and order — a response to the poverty, violence and disorder he sees around SA — predates his walking mission. Before he took to the roads he was a jazz musician, singing original songs calling for peace and stability.
During 2022 and 2023 he trudged thousands of kilometres across SA, carrying placards proclaiming his message of peace, speaking at schools and churches, engaging with a wide cross section of SA citizens and spending time partnering with poor communities in projects like building school classrooms or rebuilding tornado-damaged houses. His message to struggling communities is: “Do Something.”
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In January this year he headed beyond SA’s borders, visiting Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. He said the deep poverty he saw in nations to the north of SA was considerably greater than what he has seen at home. But those nations felt safer — with less crime and violence than in SA.
“Imagine South Africa without guns. This would be a brilliant country, everybody would want to come here,” he said.
While he walked about 2 000km around Southern Africa this year, his main focus was not on the walking but on connecting with people and communities. One of the obstacles he faced was from politicians who, upon seeing his “peace” placards, assumed he was on a political mission. His worst experience was being jailed in Zimbabwe where he was suspected of criminal political activity.
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God bless Africa
But, he said, his most profound experience was how God showed him, while he was walking and engaging with people, that it was not just “peace” but the “peace of God” that Africa needs. He said that as he walked through nations he found himself saying: “God bless these people, God bless Africa.”
Then he realised that others had travelled in Africa before him, praying God’s blessing over the continent. People like SA composer Enoch Sontonga who wrote the song Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (God Bless Africa) which inspired the national anthems of Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, he said.
Through these meditations God inspired him to climb Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, to declare: “God bless Africa” from the summit.
He plans to ascend Kilimanjaro at the end of next month. He aims to raise R100 000 of which he will use 60% to cover summiting costs and the rest to establish a business at home to help support future “peace walking” missions.
If you would like to support Siyanda’s fundrasing campaign, you can do so through his Backabuddy page or by contributing directly to his bank account: Capitec, SS Dlamini, 1736237800. For more on Siyanda’s peace walking and community upliftment efforts see his Peacewalking Foundation Facebook page.
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