Programme Directors,
Minister of Basic Education and all Ministers and Deputy Ministers
present,
MECs present,
Representatives from our neighbouring sister countries,
School Governing Bodies¹ Parents, educators and learners,
Distinguished Guests

I wish to welcome all of you to the 2015 edition of the South African
Schools Eisteddfod National Championships.

This event is an appropriate and exciting way to end a whole month¹s
activities during the month of June, which is Youth Month in our
country.

Every June month, we celebrate the contribution of South African youth
to the attainment of freedom and democracy in our country and we
dedicate it to focusing on building a better and brighter future for
all our young people.

We have had a full month of exciting activities under the theme Youth
Moving South Africa Forward.

This evening young people are again moving not only South Africa but
Africa forward through music, a very powerful instrument of uniting
our people across the borders of our continent.

Music plays an important role in African societies. It is an integral
part of the life of every African.

Music and dance are activities that characterize an African musical
expression and play an important part in the lives of the people.

Choral music in particular has been extremely popular in our country
for decades.

It is within this context that the South African Schools Eisteddfod
Championship is so important in our quest to promote our culture as a
people, and to teach our children all that is exciting and colourful
about our culture.

The 2015 edition of the Eisteddfod coincides with the 60th anniversary
of the Freedom Charter which was adopted at the Congress of the
People, in Kliptown, on 26 June 1955.

The Freedom Charter unambiguously declared that, ³The Doors of
Learning and Culture Shall be opened!² It further unequivocally said,
³Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all
children².

The music competition resonates very well with these principles as it
is accessible to all learners.

In addition, the educational needs of learners in the 21st century¹
extend beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. It should build a total
human being, and that entails teaching our children to celebrate their
culture and identity.

I am pleased that this choral music national championships  includes
the performance of 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' the National Anthem of the
Republic of South Africa.

I am even more impressed by the addition to the music performance of
the Preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and
also performance of the Plea for Africa.

It is also even more significant that we have included the singing of
the African Union (AU) Anthem as part of this 2015 edition.  This
helps to instill in our learners that South Africa is an integral part
of the African continent.

Let me reiterate that all our learners must know and appreciate the
African Union anthem.

As you prepare for the championships, let me emphasise to our youth
that young people must be free to express themselves through music,
song and dance. That is part of your African existence and culture,
regardless of your colour, race or creed.

Also important for our youth, as part of building total and
well-rounded human beings, is the need for all schools to teach
history as a subject and for it to be compulsory.

Youth need to know the history of this country and of the African
people generally in the continent so that they can be able to chart a
better future.

Without knowing the past, our children and youth will be people
without a foundation and without any grounding whatsoever. They will
be inclined to repeat the mistakes of the past. We urge parents to
support us in the campaign to promote history as a subject in all our
schools.

Distinguished guests,

We are happy that this competition has drawn sister countries from
within SADC as well. We extend a warm welcome to Swaziland schools in
our Eisteddfod and this is the first step towards a bigger vision of
this programme.

We also note the presence of Lesotho, Namibia and Botswana.
Discussions with other member states are ongoing. In the near future,
the next layer of competition will be the SADC competition that will
bring the vision of a region united in culture to reality. We are one
people. We are neighbours and we are brothers and sisters.

In conclusion, many years ago now, our founding father of the new
South Africa uTata Nelson Mandela made a bold statement when he said
that our country needed an "RDP of the soul", the Reconstruction and
Development of its soul.

I believe it is through music, song and dance that we can move closer
towards that goal as music heals the soul and unites people.

I wish all choirs all of the best with the championships.

I thank you