Minister Nathi Mthethwa invited IOL Entertainment to welcome Grammy Award winners Nomcebo Zikode, Wouter Kellerman and Zakes Bantwini at O.R Tambo International Airport.
During the welcome party, the minister spoke on his joy and pride at what the Grammy Award winning trio had achieved and thanked them for representing South Africa so well on the global stage.
Shortly after the ceremony, Bantwini spoke to the media about this accomplishment and how he was glad to be back home to celebrate.
“I didn’t expect such a warm welcome from everyone. It’s only just now starting to sink in that I’m actually a Grammy award winner.”
“We went to LA optimistic that we could come home with the Grammy. But the fact that we actually did it just feels so incredible. I want to thank my manager and business partner Sibo Mhlungu and our entire team at IMG Africa for all their hard work and commitment. This wouldn’t be possible without them.”
Bantwini gave props to Zikode and Kellerman for collaborating with him on such a “powerful and unique” piece of music.
“I’m really big on collaboration. You can’t achieve something like this alone. Nomcebo and Wouter are such incredible artists and it’s an honour to be able to celebrate this with them.”
Earlier in the week, Mthethwa hosted a virtual Instagram Live session with the three artists to congratulate them on their victory at the Grammy Awards.
Their Grammy was under the category Best Global Music Performance for their collaboration titled “Bayethe”.
This marked the first Grammy for Bantwini and Zikode, who’s an ambassador for the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
This was Kellerman’s fourth nomination and his second win.