For around 32 years, the Pennsylvanians Sporting Minstrel Club (PSV) has kept the spirit of the minstrels alive.

With the launch of the 2022/23 season on Sunday 26 June, the members are now hard at work, preparing for their upcoming road marches.

“We are now preparing for our Heritage Day road march in September and from there we will continue having road marches until December,” says Faeeda Davids, a spokesperson for the club.

The aim of the launch was to reveal the club’s new colours for the season: blue, yellow and white. The launch also served as a family fun day held at PSV’s new home base in the Athlone industrial area. The club has a continuous intake and accepts all ages from all over Cape Town.

Band leader Brett Edwards says they have members from as far as Port Elizabeth, Wellington, Robertson, Mitchell’s Plain and the surrounding Cape Flats areas.

“We are open for all to join and have people from all over Cape Town and the Cape Flats. We are a well-established club with a Goema troop, a marching band and a brass band,” says Edwards.

For Boy Thomas, Dawood Bestman, and Agmat and Ziyaad Madatt who are part of the Goema troop, the minstrel culture has been part of their lives for generations.

“I got involved when I was still a child. It is something we grew up with and my father was part of it, so we became part of it,” says Thomas. Among the four of them, they have been active in the minstrels for around 30 to 40 years.