Deputy Minister Budget Vote Speeches
As I make my maiden speech today in Parliament as the new Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, I would like to immediately convey my gratitude to Minister Mthethwa and the entire Department for warmly welcoming me in their midst.
An African proverb says that: Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter”.
Six days ago on 10 May 2013 we celebrated 19 years since President Nelson Mandela took the oath office as the first President of a democratic South Africa. This was the beginning of the Reconstructive leg our long walk to Freedom after centuries and decades of struggle against colonialism and apartheid.
Six days ago on 10 May 2013 we celebrated 19 years since President Nelson Mandela took the oath office as the first President of a democratic South Africa. This was the beginning of the Reconstructive leg our long walk to Freedom after centuries and decades of struggle against colonialism and apartheid. That journey took us to the adoption of our constitution in March 1996 which has been hailed as one of the most progressive in the world
Let me firstly express my appreciation for this opportunity to contribute to the debate on the budget vote of our department, Arts and Culture for 2012/2013.This debate takes place in an important year in our history, that of the centenary of the oldest liberation movement in our continent the ANC. We are indeed a privileged generation to bear witness to this major historic epoch.
It is indeed a great honour and privilege for me to contribute to this debate on the budget of our department for 2012/ 2013.This year 2012 is a very important one for us in the Arts, Culture and Heritage Sector. This is so because this is a year when we mark one hundred years of the establishment of an institution which became the cornerstone of the building of a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa which we were able to start building in earnest in 1994.That institution is none other than the African National Congress.
This year we celebrated the 17th anniversary of our freedom under the theme “working together to unite the nation, promote democracy and protect freedom”. This was in recognition of the journey we have travelled since the watershed 27 April 1994 elections which ushered in the current democratic order.