*** HEADLINE PHOTO: Puri-Hydrate Water’s MD, Mantshele Tau, attending the Mahika Mahikeng 2025 over the weekend ***
By Saul Molobi (Festival Photos/Videos: Courtesy of the North West Department of Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation)
The launch of Puri-Hydrate, the premium bottled water brand produced by Tau ya Phoka Group (Pty) Ltd, marked a decisive entry into South Africa’s increasingly sophisticated bottled water market. Launched in September 2024, the occasion went far beyond a conventional product unveiling. It was a deliberate statement of intent — positioning Puri-Hydrate as a brand anchored in uncompromising quality, deep cultural consciousness, and proven delivery capability. Those founding values were powerfully reaffirmed this past weekend through the brand’s highly visible and operationally successful sponsorship of the Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Music Festival 2025 in Mahikeng (the North West capital), where Puri-Hydrate moved from promise to performance on one of the province’s biggest cultural stages.
Still standing firmly by his words first articulated at the official launch in Hartbeespoort, Managing Director Mantshele Tau has continued to frame Puri-Hydrate as “a smart, high-quality bottled water initiative,” deliberately introduced at a critical moment in South Africa’s history — when persistent concerns around water quality, reliability, and infrastructure are increasingly shaping consumer behaviour and redefining how citizens make everyday choices about something as fundamental as drinking water.
“More than ever before, South Africans deserve to have more options and choices,” Tau said. “We are entering this space with a greater sense of pride and responsibility.”
He acknowledged the competitive and often uneven nature of the bottled water sector, noting that the proliferation of poorly positioned brands has, at times, compromised standards. Puri-Hydrate, he explained, is intent on writing “a new chapter,” anchored in quality, scale, and credibility. Conceptualised during the COVID-19 period but delayed by pandemic-related disruptions, the brand now stands on the firm foundation of its 16-year-old parent company.
“Puri-Hydrate is standing on the shoulders of a giant — Tau ya Phoka Group,” Tau noted. “Its vision is clear, its mission practical, and its appeal grounded in real needs.”
Launched during Heritage Month in 2024, Puri-Hydrate deliberately aligns itself with a deeper symbolism. Tau framed water as more than a commodity — describing it as a source of life, heritage, and the foundation of human civilisation. In that context, the brand positions itself as part of the solution, offering high-quality water that remains affordable and accessible through informed consumer choice.
That positioning was dramatically validated through Puri-Hydrate’s role as the exclusive bottled water supplier to the Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Music Festival 2025, one of North West Province’s most significant cultural and tourism events.
The sponsorship of the Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Music Festival represents a strategic milestone for the Puri-Hydrate brand, positioning it at the intersection of culture, community, and mass participation. Festivals of this magnitude are not only entertainment platforms; they are social gathering points that bring together thousands of people across age, class, and geography. By aligning itself with a provincial cultural flagship event, Puri-Hydrate embedded its brand directly into lived public experience — where hydration is essential, visibility is high, and credibility is tested in real time. Supplying water in such an environment underscores the brand’s reliability, operational capacity, and readiness to serve large-scale audiences, while reinforcing its commitment to supporting South Africa’s cultural economy.
Beyond visibility, the sponsorship carried deep symbolic value. Mahika Mahikeng is a celebration of heritage, creativity, and African expression — values that resonate strongly with Puri-Hydrate’s positioning of water as a source of life, continuity, and collective well-being.
By supporting a festival that honours identity and community, the brand moved beyond transactional marketing into purposeful engagement, demonstrating that it understands the social contexts in which its product is consumed. This association strengthens emotional trust, builds long-term brand affinity, and positions Puri-Hydrate not merely as a bottled water option, but as a responsible, culturally aligned brand invested in the people and spaces it serves.“For us, this is not just about pushing a brand for commercial results,” said Tau.
“It is about offering a credible bottled water solution that responds to real challenges on the ground and, in doing so, contributes meaningfully to helping our country. Puri-Hydrate is our practical intervention — where quality, responsibility and impact meet.”
According to the North West Department of Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, Mahika Mahikeng is far more than a music concert. Hosted every December at the iconic Mmabatho Stadium, the festival is a vibrant celebration of the spirit of Bokone Bophirima, bringing together culture, music, heritage and community.
The 2025 edition featured electrifying performances by some of South Africa’s most influential artists, including Uncle Waffles, whose genre-defining beats have captivated global audiences; Kabza De Small, the undisputed King of Amapiano; Kelvin Momo, renowned for his soulful soundscapes; and Maglera Doe Boy, whose fusion of hip-hop and cultural expression resonated strongly with festival-goers. Beyond the main stage, attendees engaged with local artisans, enjoyed traditional cuisine, and participated in a dynamic cultural marketplace that celebrated creativity, identity and community pride.
To watch a short video containing snippets of the event, click here.
Within this high-energy, high-attendance environment, Puri-Hydrate’s presence was both practical and symbolic.
“Being an exclusive water brand supplier to a provincial mega event like Mahika Mahikeng says a lot about our delivery capacity and commitment to quality,” Tau said.
Tau expressed his appreciation to the organisers of the Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Music Festival for extending a valuable co-branding opportunity to Puri-Hydrate, describing it as a powerful platform that aligned seamlessly with the brand’s values and growth ambitions. He noted that partnering with a flagship provincial event of this stature not only amplified Puri-Hydrate’s visibility, but also affirmed its readiness to operate at scale within complex, high-profile environments.
Tau added that he looks forward to building a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship rooted in trust, shared purpose, and developmental impact with the festival and its home province, underscoring Puri-Hydrate’s commitment to growing alongside the communities and cultural institutions of the North West.
Supplying water at an event of this scale required logistical precision, consistency of supply, and absolute reliability — qualities that Puri-Hydrate demonstrated throughout the festival. The sponsorship therefore functioned as a live stress test of the brand’s operational readiness, while simultaneously embedding it within one of the province’s most visible cultural platforms.
“There is no better platform to position our product like Mahika Mahikeng,” Tau explained. “It is cultural, it is mass-based, and it speaks directly to the people.”
The partnership also dovetailed seamlessly with Puri-Hydrate’s broader go-to-market strategy. On the one hand, the brand is already supplying corporate clients with high-quality branded bottled water — supporting brand repositioning across government departments, state-owned entities, private-sector firms, and mass-based organisations such as churches. On the other hand, a parallel retail strategy is underway, ensuring that Puri-Hydrate’s still, sparkling, and alkaline water ranges are increasingly visible and available in garages, convenience stores, and neighbourhood shops.
*** ON STAGE PHOTOS: KB Motsilenyane, Kelly Khumalo and Sjava wowed the crowd ***
While acknowledging the structural challenges of an untransformed industry, Tau remained resolute.
“We are ready and willing to go the extra mile,” he said. “Through relentless effort and dedication, we will win.”
Looking ahead, Puri-Hydrate plans to consolidate its footprint across inland provinces before expanding into coastal regions and neighbouring markets. Tau revealed growing interest beyond South Africa’s borders, citing Botswana as one of the markets already expressing readiness for the product.
Grounded in what he described as an ancient African philosophy — that within water resides life and the future — Tau framed Puri-Hydrate as more than a commercial venture.
“Our water is bottled to preserve life itself,” he said. “That is how we see Puri-Hydrate: a source of life to our clientele, and a responsibility to us as producers.”
As the brand moves decisively from launch phase into market penetration, the successful sponsorship of the Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Music Festival 2025 stands as a defining milestone — demonstrating that Puri-Hydrate is not only open for business, but fully capable of delivering at scale, under pressure, and at the very heart of South Africa’s cultural economy.