Date: 09/07/2005
Source: Department of Home Affairs
Title: Gigaba: National Heritage Council dinner
Address by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, M Gigaba, at the National Heritage Council dinner hosted for the delegates of the South African Civil Society in Durban
Programme Director (Vuyo Mbuli)
Mr Lechesa Tsenoli, M.P., Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Arts & Culture, Ms. Luli Callinicos, Chairperson National Heritage Council Members of the National Heritage Council, Mr Themba Wakashe, Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee & DDG of Arts and Culture in South Africa, Mr. S. Mancotywa, CEO, National Heritage Council, Ladies and Gentlemen:
50 years ago, as the outcome of the Congress of the People, the Freedom Charter proclaimed that: "The doors of learning and culture shall be open to all"!
Elaborating on this proclamation, the Charter said that:
"All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;
The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;"
What is, of course, unique about the Freedom Charter, is only the fact that it was a product of the most democratic process ever in the history of our country before the founding of the democratic South Africa, but it is that it continues to represent the future in the midst of the turmoil of the present.
Even a cursory look at the Charter would convey a very unequivocal message that the present-day South Africa is still a far-cry from the vision of that document.
In his book, "Astonishing the Gods", Ben Okri refers to an ancient prophet-king on a high diamond platform, and says: "With the hands bearing the shining sword of truth, he was pointing ever-forward to a great destiny and destination, never to be reached, because if reached the people and their journey would perish. He was pointing to an ever-moving destination, unspecified except in myth, the place of absolute self-realisation and contentment which must always be beyond the reach of the brave land, but not so much beyond reach that the people would give up in perfection's despair, and set up tent somewhere between the sixth and final mountain".
Like the magnificent prophet-king bearing the shining sword of truth, the Freedom Charter gave us a vision, that ever-moving destiny and destination that kept our forebears and continues even today to keep us along the path of its pursuit, convinced that step-by-step we will attain some of the liberties it proclaimed, but not such that both we as a people and our journey perish.
For the values it espoused and the vision it held about the future of our country, for its resilience under persecution and the fact that it was able to win to its side the support of the overwhelming majority of the peoples of our land, the Freedom Charter has become part of the common heritage of all the people of our country.
The important point that must be driven home is that what is defined today and in future as South Africa's heritage predates the arrival of the first colonial settlers and the period of the colonisation of our country.
The vital challenge is to fulfil the vision of the National Heritage Council, to "create an enabling environment for the effective and efficient preservation, protection and promotion of South African heritage for present and future generations".
Yet another vital challenge, is to educate the peoples of South Africa, especially the youth, about what is our common heritage as a people, like the Freedom Charter stated it, to teach them "to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;"
In this way, therefore, the doors of learning and culture must be open to all, and all the cultural treasures of humankind must be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands.
Indeed, the very challenge to educate our people about our common heritage, and "to create an enabling environment for the effective and efficient preservation, protection and promotion of South African heritage for present and future generations", will itself have to go through the necessary and painful process of debate and engagement in order to ensure that there is consensus on what is our common heritage.
This means that the discourse about heritage must be thrown into the public arena, where the people can also participate in this great endeavour, if heritage issues must be freed from the clutches of academic and elitist discourse.
In a country such as South Africa, where heritage has clear and indistinguishable links with our past of racism and class and gender oppression, it is important that we bear it in mind both that heritage issues shall be controversial as well as that they shall be difficult to settle.
African heritage in particular, reflected in the Indigenous Knowledge Systems, must not only be preserved, it must also be taken out of the zoo of preservation to enrich the self-realisation of the African people, to restore their dignity and humanity, and to become an active player in the social development of our people as a whole, and as one of the mission statements of the Council states it, "to unlock the economic potential of our national heritage".
To unlock the discussion on national heritage would thus create the situation in terms of which our people become partners in the preservation and promotion of their heritage.
It would contribute profoundly to the process of our national identity and definition as a new nation, and to the respect of our unity and diversity as a people.
I trust therefore that this Conference shall give all of us, including those of us from other government departments the opportunity to partake as partners in this process, to learn about our heritage and what we can do to assist the National Heritage Council to fulfil its mandate.
The Department of Home Affairs and other departments that play a role in border control could, for example, ensure that we are able to protect heritage objects at the ports of entry or exit.
Accordingly, the audit of the South African Heritage Estate being undertaken by the Department of Arts and Culture, the South African Heritage Resource Agency and the National Heritage Council will help our department to know which heritage objects ought not to leave our country.
These programmes and perspectives should be at the centre of our national and continental renaissance; they are part of the national question.
Indeed, we owe it to future generations to preserve their heritage and to present it to them intact.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
9 July 2005
Source: Department of Home Affairs
Title: Gigaba: National Heritage Council dinner
Address by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, M Gigaba, at the National Heritage Council dinner hosted for the delegates of the South African Civil Society in Durban
Programme Director (Vuyo Mbuli)
Mr Lechesa Tsenoli, M.P., Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Arts & Culture, Ms. Luli Callinicos, Chairperson National Heritage Council Members of the National Heritage Council, Mr Themba Wakashe, Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee & DDG of Arts and Culture in South Africa, Mr. S. Mancotywa, CEO, National Heritage Council, Ladies and Gentlemen:
50 years ago, as the outcome of the Congress of the People, the Freedom Charter proclaimed that: "The doors of learning and culture shall be open to all"!
Elaborating on this proclamation, the Charter said that:
"All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;
The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;"
What is, of course, unique about the Freedom Charter, is only the fact that it was a product of the most democratic process ever in the history of our country before the founding of the democratic South Africa, but it is that it continues to represent the future in the midst of the turmoil of the present.
Even a cursory look at the Charter would convey a very unequivocal message that the present-day South Africa is still a far-cry from the vision of that document.
In his book, "Astonishing the Gods", Ben Okri refers to an ancient prophet-king on a high diamond platform, and says: "With the hands bearing the shining sword of truth, he was pointing ever-forward to a great destiny and destination, never to be reached, because if reached the people and their journey would perish. He was pointing to an ever-moving destination, unspecified except in myth, the place of absolute self-realisation and contentment which must always be beyond the reach of the brave land, but not so much beyond reach that the people would give up in perfection's despair, and set up tent somewhere between the sixth and final mountain".
Like the magnificent prophet-king bearing the shining sword of truth, the Freedom Charter gave us a vision, that ever-moving destiny and destination that kept our forebears and continues even today to keep us along the path of its pursuit, convinced that step-by-step we will attain some of the liberties it proclaimed, but not such that both we as a people and our journey perish.
For the values it espoused and the vision it held about the future of our country, for its resilience under persecution and the fact that it was able to win to its side the support of the overwhelming majority of the peoples of our land, the Freedom Charter has become part of the common heritage of all the people of our country.
The important point that must be driven home is that what is defined today and in future as South Africa's heritage predates the arrival of the first colonial settlers and the period of the colonisation of our country.
The vital challenge is to fulfil the vision of the National Heritage Council, to "create an enabling environment for the effective and efficient preservation, protection and promotion of South African heritage for present and future generations".
Yet another vital challenge, is to educate the peoples of South Africa, especially the youth, about what is our common heritage as a people, like the Freedom Charter stated it, to teach them "to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;"
In this way, therefore, the doors of learning and culture must be open to all, and all the cultural treasures of humankind must be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands.
Indeed, the very challenge to educate our people about our common heritage, and "to create an enabling environment for the effective and efficient preservation, protection and promotion of South African heritage for present and future generations", will itself have to go through the necessary and painful process of debate and engagement in order to ensure that there is consensus on what is our common heritage.
This means that the discourse about heritage must be thrown into the public arena, where the people can also participate in this great endeavour, if heritage issues must be freed from the clutches of academic and elitist discourse.
In a country such as South Africa, where heritage has clear and indistinguishable links with our past of racism and class and gender oppression, it is important that we bear it in mind both that heritage issues shall be controversial as well as that they shall be difficult to settle.
African heritage in particular, reflected in the Indigenous Knowledge Systems, must not only be preserved, it must also be taken out of the zoo of preservation to enrich the self-realisation of the African people, to restore their dignity and humanity, and to become an active player in the social development of our people as a whole, and as one of the mission statements of the Council states it, "to unlock the economic potential of our national heritage".
To unlock the discussion on national heritage would thus create the situation in terms of which our people become partners in the preservation and promotion of their heritage.
It would contribute profoundly to the process of our national identity and definition as a new nation, and to the respect of our unity and diversity as a people.
I trust therefore that this Conference shall give all of us, including those of us from other government departments the opportunity to partake as partners in this process, to learn about our heritage and what we can do to assist the National Heritage Council to fulfil its mandate.
The Department of Home Affairs and other departments that play a role in border control could, for example, ensure that we are able to protect heritage objects at the ports of entry or exit.
Accordingly, the audit of the South African Heritage Estate being undertaken by the Department of Arts and Culture, the South African Heritage Resource Agency and the National Heritage Council will help our department to know which heritage objects ought not to leave our country.
These programmes and perspectives should be at the centre of our national and continental renaissance; they are part of the national question.
Indeed, we owe it to future generations to preserve their heritage and to present it to them intact.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
9 July 2005
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