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The finalists for the Golden Shield Heritage Awards have been made public. These champions of heritage will be awarded at a special ceremony that will be held at the Mittah Seperepere Convention Centre in Kimberly on Friday, 23 September 2016 from 18h00. The National Heritage Day on 24 September 2016 at Galeshewe Stadium, Kimberley, Northern Cape where President Jacob Zuma will give the main address.

The annual event was previously held in Gauteng and Free State Provinces. It has now come to the Northern Cape to celebrate the rich heritage and authentic culture of the province. This was made possible by the partnership between the National Heritage Council of South Africa and the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) with the Sol Plaatje Municipality (SPM).

“We are grateful that the Northern Cape government prioritised the recognition of heritage activists in South Africa through the GOSHA awards. These champions are rarely thanked for their contribution in preserving and promoting heritage. If it was not for the kind of people like those who we are awarding and those who could not make it to the final round, South Africa would have suffered a heritage and culture deficit”, say Adv Sonwabile Mancotywa, the CEO of the National Heritage Council.

The ceremony is expected to be attended by the MECs of Arts and Culture in the nine provinces and the Minister of Arts and Culture. The activist musician, Simphiwe Dana will be among the entertainers for the night.

Leading to this night of heritage celebration of the Golden Shield Heritage Awards, the Provincial government, Sol Plaatje Municipality and the National Heritage Council will visit the heritage sites and facilities in Kimberly to interact with the people who are working with heritage on a daily basis.

“We hope to hear about the challenges of our heritage preservation in the Northern Cape directly from the public. This Lekgotla will help us to solicit views on how best we can integrate heritage in our greater plans of local economic development and social cohesion”, says Executive Mayor Mangaliso Matika.

The Heritage Ubuntu Lekgotla will be held at the Mayibuye Centre, Galeshewe on Thursday, 22 September 2016 at 16h00 while the visits to heritage sites will start at 08h00 from the McGregor Museum in Atlas Street. Kimberly.

The above events will be leading to the main national celebration of Heritage Day on Saturday 24th September 2016 at Galeshewe Stadium in Kimberley. The MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Ms Mbinqo-Gigaba says “We are expecting to offer the people of the Northern Cape an exciting celebration that will rekindle our nationhood, profile our heritage and contribute to the economy of our artists and the province”.

Issued by Government Communications (GCIS) on behalf of the National Heritage Council (NHC) in conjunction with the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and Sol Plaatje Municipality