Sodwana Bay – In just seven years, Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers’ (NEWF) ocean access programme has grown into the largest of its kind on the continent, building capacity, equity, and opportunity.
The programme has also become part of a new wave of ocean heritage in Sodwana Bay, located along the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, between St. Lucia and Lake Sibhayi.
The programme was commemorated on Heritage Day, Wednesday, 24 September 2025.
For community leaders Silindile “Mama Sli” Mbuyazi and Nkosikhona “Nkosi” Mthembu, the Heritage Day celebration was an embodiment of community, resilience, and passing on what matters most.
Together, Mama Sli and Nkosi embody the living heritage of custodianship.
For them, this year means something more: becoming custodians of the sea and opening the ocean to young people from their community in Sodwana Bay.
Both Mama Sli and Nkosi began their ocean journeys with barriers stacked against them: limited access, no swimming skills, and little representation in a space that has long excluded local people.
Today, they are both certified Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) at eKhaya, a NEWF community-based conservation and learning hub, mentoring and training others to dive.
Speaking on the significance of Heritage Day, in her mother language, Mama Sli had this to say: “Usuku lwamasiko luyisikhumbuzo sokuthi ulwandle luyifa lethu sonke, kanti njengo mamaSli lapha esikhungweni sokucwila or ukutshuza, ngifisa ukufundisa bonke abafundi ngiphinde ngibacobelele ngolwazi lokuthi ulwandle luyindawo yokuphila nokufunda nokungcinwa kwezilwane ezihlala ngaphansi kwamanzi ziphephile.”
Translated: “Heritage Day is a reminder that the ocean is our common heritage, and as Mama Sli here at the diving center, I wish to teach all [our] students and share with them the knowledge that the ocean is a place to live and learn and to protect marine life.”
Nkosi, once Mama Sli’s first mentee, now mentors others.
“It’s powerful to be part of this,” says Nkosi..
“For so long, access felt impossible. Now we are showing the next generation that these barriers can fall.
“This is our shared heritage, a future shaped by connection to the ocean.”
The stories of Mama Sli and Nosi are part of a wider movement led by NEWF and Africa Refocused to redefine heritage as custodianship of the ocean.
Earlier this year, NEWF became a PADI Educational Facility in Sodwana Bay, paving the way for regional impact.
In Tanzania, NEWF Fellow Nancy Iraba’s organisation, Action for Ocean, has since also achieved PADI Educational Facility status, supported by four instructors collaboratively trained through NEWF.
Further within the context of NEWF’s effort to drive heritage as custodians of the ocean, since June, with the support of the Nedbank YES Employment Stimulus Program, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and partners including Wild Impact and the National Geographic Society.
The organisation has seen:
- Nine NEWF team members and fellows certified as PADI instructors, including Sli and Nkosi, and
- 25 local youth have been trained as open water divers, many starting from learning to swim.
All while cultivating a Pan-African network of 355 NEWF Fellows across 35 African countries and global reach, including 11 countries in the diaspora and the global south, which includes 190 certified divers to date.
Noel Kok, Co-Founder and Executive Director of NEWF, says Heritage Day underscores the importance of building capacity within communities.
“Providing conservation jobs is not the same as investing in community,” said Kok.
“Real heritage is about enhancing capacity, building equity, and supporting people to shape their own agency and opportunity.
“On Heritage Day, we celebrate that responsibility begins at home, and here in Sodwana Bay, that responsibility is custodianship of the ocean.”
Kok says “reflecting on our heritage as Africans” should be a reminder that “our ancestors lived in harmony with the natural rhythms” of the ocean and the land.
Kok adds: “As the original custodians, they safeguarded Africa’s natural wealth so well that today the continent remains home to its megafauna and is still regarded as one of the lungs of the Earth.
“In this context, and as we work to enable the protection of our environment, we must keep in mind that our natural heritage is just as important as our cultural heritage.
“In fact, much of our culture stems from the way we have lived alongside plants, animals, and the ocean.
“Our elders understood that preserving cultural heritage begins with how we protect our natural heritage.”
For the NEWF Community, Heritage Day 2025 shone a spotlight on a new generation of custodians rising from Sodwana Bay.
From swimming pools to the open sea, from silence to self-expression, Mama Sli and Nkosi’s journeys show what it means to reclaim heritage, not only as culture or tradition, but as living custodianship of nature.
*This feature was contributed by NEWF
