Ukwanda Puppets & Design Art Collective was developed through the mentorship of Handspring Puppet Company and is supported by the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) where they are artists in residence and fellows.  Their studio is based at CHR’s Iyatsiba Lab in Cape Town. (Iyatsiba means ‘It’s jumping’.)  

Since its inception in 2010, Ukwanda has grown into a collective of young artists with a core group consisting of Luyanda Nogodlwana, designer, performer, puppeteer and puppet maker; Siphokazi Mpofu, communications, puppeteer, performer, producer and puppet maker; and Sipho Ngxola, puppet maker, designer, performer, film maker and puppeteer. 

Ukwanda achieved considerable acclaim with their production, Qhawe: a Xhosa Fairytale, which they performed in 2014 at the National Youth Festival, Montague and the Cape Town Fringe. At the National Arts Festival this production won the Standard Bank Ovation Award.  

In 2018 Ukwanda created Warona, a puppetry piece dealing with drug awareness which toured in schools and theatres throughout the Cape Town area. At the 2019 National Arts Festival, Warona won the Standard Bank Ovation award for best ensemble as well as the Silver Award for excellence. This piece was also performed at the Assitej International “Cradle of Creativity” Festival.  

In 2020 Ukwanda collaborated with the Augsburg Staatsteater in Germany. The production Isingqala Samanzi (The call of water) was performed both in South Africa and Germany in 2022.  

Ukwanda have been key collaborators on the design and creation of the giant puppets for the annual Barrydale Puppet Parade in the Klein Karoo.  Originally a Handspring initiative, this developed into a partnership between the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape and Net vir Pret in Barrydale. Ukwanda have also performed these puppets in the Cape Town Partnership’s The City Walk, the Baxter Theatre’s Zabalaza Festival and the Cape Town Carnival, as well as at Celebration Parade (Adelaide Festival 2024).

Ukwanda also created and directed the puppetry for the ‘The Final Spring’, the digital arts community project ‘Reboot Eden’ and a short puppet film ‘The New Normal Life’ which were all nominated for prestigious National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences awards.  Craig Leo directed them in his co-productions of The Lonely Sailor Weather Report (Virtual National Arts Festival 2020) and Nothing is here (2020).

In 2022 and 2023 Ukwanda co-created a new production Maxeke: This work is not for yourselves, written by Buhle Ngaba and directed by Itumeleng Wa Lehulere.  The play premiered in Feb 2023. Ukwanda have been nominated for a Fleur du Cap award for best puppetry design.