Musa E. Zulu
Zulu-Durban author, artist and disability advocate to be honoured for three decades of work in inclusive storytelling and the arts
DURBAN, South Africa — Musa E. Zulu will receive the 2026 Jury Honorary Award from the Power24 International Film Festival (PIFF) at the festival’s awards ceremony on 22 August 2026 at the Southern Sun Garden Court, Marine Parade, in Durban.
The Jury Honorary Award is presented at the discretion of Power24’s jury, outside of the festival’s competitive categories, to an individual whose life’s work reflects the festival’s mission of platforming vulnerable and marginalised voices in storytelling. The award was introduced at the festival’s second edition in 2025, when actor and director Calvin Ratladi received it for his contribution to African storytelling. Zulu is its second recipient.
Zulu, a published author, visual artist, motivational speaker and disability rights activist, has spent close to thirty years turning his own story into a platform for others. He is being recognised for that body of work: five published books, decades of commissioned art, and a career built on advocating for the inclusion of people with disabilities in South African public life.
His work
Zulu holds an Honours degree in Sociology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (1993). He lectured in the University’s Faculty of Humanities and later worked as a Human Resources Manager before a car accident on 20 April 1995 left him paralysed at the age of 23. In the three decades since, he has rebuilt his career as a published author, artist, motivational speaker and disability rights activist.
He has written five books: The Language of Me (UKZN Press, 2004), Wheels on the Soul of my Shoes (Nutrend Publishers, 2008), Tributes: The Story (Valhalla Arts, 2012), Mastering the Art of Self-Motivation: Tapping the Inner You (Valhalla Arts, 2017) and I Am Art: The 40th Anniversary Essay (Valhalla Arts, 2021), which he launched with a skydive over the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. The Language of Me is prescribed reading on the Disability as Diversity postgraduate module at the University of Cape Town and was examined in a 2014 doctoral thesis at Stellenbosch University.
As an artist with more than 40 years of practice, Zulu has staged solo exhibitions and produced commissioned work for organisations including the Auditor General’s Office, Rhino Cash & Carry, and the KwaZulu-Natal departments of Agriculture and of Arts & Culture. In 2021 he was commissioned to create the artwork presented to winners of the KZN Standard Bank Top Business Awards.
In 2005 he founded Valhalla Arts, a 100% Black- and disability-owned company through which he runs the Indimezulu Trust bursary fund, the Ibhuku Women Authors Exhibition Festival, Santa Wheels, the Disability Economic Empowerment Programme (DEEP) and THISABILITY Newspaper – a disability awareness newspaper. He has delivered motivational talks to corporate and government audiences for close to three decades, with past clients including Standard Bank, Old Mutual, Sanlam, KPMG, Ernst & Young and Multichoice.
His previous honours include the eThekwini Municipality’s Mayors’ Achiever Award (2013), the NHBRC Iqhawe Mentorship Award at the Black Business Quarterly Awards (2019), and the Durban Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by eThekwini Municipality — a UNESCO City of Literature — in December 2021. In October 2021 he addressed the United Nations and eThekwini Municipality’s Disability Management Summit at the Durban International Convention Centre on ‘Removing Barriers to an Inclusive Society.’
Announcing the intention in Durban, an unanimous decision by the awards adjudicators noted;
“Musa’s contribution to disability arts and advocacy in South Africa spans three decades. He has used his story, and every book, artwork and stage he has stood on since 1995, to change how this country sees disability. That is exactly the kind of storytelling Power24 exists to celebrate, and it’s why our jury chose to honour him this year.”
About the Power24 International Film Festival
The Power24 International Film Festival (Power24 IFF) is Africa’s first film festival dedicated to disability inclusion and the promotion of vulnerable and marginalised voices in cinema. It was founded by Buhle Khumalo, an actress with a disability from KwaZulu-Natal, following her Best Actress win at the Africa USA International Film Awards in Los Angeles, and is directed by Dr Samukele Khumalo-Dludla.
The festival held its inaugural edition in 2024, drawing 177 submissions from 50 countries. Its second edition in 2025 grew to more than 300 submissions from over 60 countries and handed out 27 award categories at a ceremony in Durban. The 2026 edition, its third, runs from 21 to 23 August at the Southern Sun Garden Court, Marine Parade, Durban, with the awards ceremony taking place on 22 August.
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