This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. We celebrate because the Freedom Charter is a living document in which the needs and aspirations of the people of South Africa are articulated. This charter is not an ANC document per se, but was crafted on behalf of all the oppressed people of South Africa.

In 1994 our government adopted the Reconstruction and Development Programme, which was developed by the ANC and its alliance partners and based on the Freedom Charter. All of us in this Parliament, therefore, do subscribe to the ideals of the Freedom Charter. All of us should and must, therefore, in this year of celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter, recommit ourselves to working tirelessly for the realization of the vision of the Freedom Charter.

On 8 May 1996, the Constitutional Assembly adopted “The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa” - the founding document of our constitutional democracy which is also based on the Freedom Charter.

I am making reference to these three important documents because the work that we have undertaken to effect the development and transformation programme in the area of arts, culture and heritage has, as its point of departure, the profound provisions of these documents which are the pillars of our democracy.

Our mandate is to ensure the effective mainstreaming of arts, culture, heritage and informational activities within the broader government goals of social and economic development, nation-building, social cohesion, national identity and the role of South Africa internationally.

This budget is about this mandate and the contract we have entered into with the people of South Africa to realize the full potential of arts and culture in social and economic development, to nurture creativity and innovation and to promote the diverse heritage of our nation.

In the past decade we have sought to translate the vision of the Freedom Charter into a meaningful reality through cultural policies which ensure equitable distribution of resources and access to the cultural infrastructure and budgetary allocations for arts and culture in the country. The transformation of the performing arts councils, and the establishment of the National Arts Council and community arts centres, are all aimed at addressing the pressing challenge of ensuring equity and the full participation of our people in the cultural life of their choice.

We are mindful of the enormous challenges that we still face to develop and transform this sector but, in my view, we are now ready devote our full attention to matters that define who we are, where we come from and where we ought to go.

Today I chose not to go into detail about the work of the Department, but to touch on some highlights and what I regard as the crucial ongoing programmes and projects for the current financial year.

Of these, the most fundamental is the question of language. In the past, language was used to divide the people of our country or as a tool for exclusion. Today, we are turning this around and putting language at the centre of our nation-building efforts.

At the annual opening of the National House of Traditional Leaders on 7 April 2005, the President stated clearly that “language is not merely words that are spoken on a daily basis”, but “a critical factor in terms of sustaining national identity…because it communicates the traditions, customs, morals and the values of the people.”

Given the fact that the Founding Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa acknowledge that we are a linguistically diverse nation, the Department of Arts and Culture has produced the National Language Policy Framework and its Implementation Plan. The Policy emphasizes that all 11 official languages should enjoy parity of esteem and that there should be equitable use of these languages. The Implementation Plan elaborates on strategies and mechanisms to ensure that multilingualism becomes a practical reality in our society.

The establishment of the Language Research and Development Centres, the Human Language Technologies project, and the Telephone Interpreting Service for South Africa are all practical measures that we are taking in pursuit of policy objectives. The Department also provides translation and editing services to all government departments and some statutory bodies to make sure that there is access to information and services in all the official languages, as well as freedom of expression. All these steps are critical factors in building a non-discriminatory and unified society.

The language issue is important for the stability, peace, and economic growth and development of our country. For South Africa, linguistic diversity is more than just about using many languages because we are a ‘rainbow nation’. It is about the attainment of fundamental rights, about justice and about human dignity.

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Like all nations, we are a product of politics, history, cultural, social and economic processes, and we are therefore bound to encounter challenges as we forge forward with our transformation. Institutionalizing multilingualism in South Africa is not without its own idiosyncratic challenges. Most people will agree that language is a very sensitive and emotive issue. We therefore have to demonstrate tolerance and mutual respect for all our languages, including sign languages and indigenous languages spoken by minority communities such as the Khoe, Nama and San.

In his address to the National House of Traditional Leaders, our President referred to a report by the Pan South African Language Board released in October 2000 which “indicated that there were many institutional difficulties facing African Languages, even though many of our people are committed to the preservation of their home languages”. He urged the National House of Traditional Leaders “to work with the national and provincial parliaments, the relevant government departments such as Education and Arts and Culture, provincial departments and other institutions in the private sector to look closely into this important matter”.

Our government and our President remain committed to ensuring a successful multilingual dispensation in South Africa. R2 million has been dedicated to the pilot project aimed at developing literature in indigenous African languages. We hope to identify and nurture new talent by creating an annual literary prize for new creative work in the indigenous languages, and we will also offer an annual prize for established writers' associations across the country in pursuance of this project. About R1 million has been set aside to stage a national literature exhibition. Lifetime achievers will be identified and awarded prizes in recognition of their work promoting literature in any of the 11 official languages. The language research and development centres will facilitate the publishing of new material and the translation of existing literature into other languages. We have budgeted R250 000 for each of these centres.

It is also of strategic importance that we develop the capacity of our national and community-based institutions further. The community arts centres are a critical part of the Department’s community-based services, and this year we will be concentrating on increasing the funding available to these structures and developing a more sophisticated management framework for the resources that these structures house.

Another key focus area will be expanding the human resource capacity of the centres by providing training and other support in partnership with local and provincial government.

Three provinces, Free State, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, have been prioritized for support relating to arts education and training. This is part of a bi-national agreement (SA-Flemish Community Arts Centre Project) that deals with pilot cases in community arts centres, art education and training, and local cultural policy. The primary project in this regard will be “Artists in Schools”, which seeks to place artists with a flair for education and teaching within schools wishing to engage with arts curriculums. This project provides a great opportunity for collaboration between the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Education.

Community Arts Centres are positioned to be the leading centres for poverty alleviation programmes of both rural and urban communities.

Successful local projects take place in many community arts centres. For example, in the past year the Department of Arts and Culture provided funds for equipment at the Mdantsane Music School, and industrial silk-screening equipment at Mdantsane as a contribution to the local Urban Renewal Programme. A community arts centre was established in Jagersfontein, an impoverished Free State rural town; the purchasing of industrial sewing machines for a women’s group in the Queenstown Arts Centre in an integrated sustainable rural development programme node; a women’s sewing project in Sekhukhuneland, also in an ISRDP node; a women’s weaving project at Ingwe; and the Mtubatuba Craft Project in KwaZulu-Natal. These projects have the potential to grow into small businesses.

In 2003 the Department facilitated the establishment of the National Federation of Community Arts Centres in order to promote access to service delivery. The centres now have a single representative umbrella organization, which gives a voice to the centres’ needs at national and provincial level.

Arts, Social Development and Youth is a unit under the branch Arts, Culture and Language in Society. Its mandate is to impact on the social and economic well-being of our communities by engaging in campaigns like the Arts Access to Prisons and the Moral Regeneration Movement.

These are civic responsibility campaigns. For example, under the Arts Access Programme we have Arts Access in Prisons. Four Correctional Services centres have been identified as pilot centres for the roll-out of this programme. The programme was launched in Kroonstad in March this year, and the next three centres will be Umzinto, Leeukop, and Pollsmoor. The plan is eventually to roll-out nationally to as many Correctional Services centres as possible, and we are working in collaboration with the Department of Correctional Services, the Department of Social Development and the South African Police Service. The SAPS has a clear project that addresses juvenile and drug offenders, but our focus is mainly on preventative care as opposed to curative care.

The Moral Regeneration Campaign has not been very successful. We are custodians for the Moral Regeneration Movement section 21 company, and to date the Department has contributed an amount of R7 million for infrastructure. This year we will be looking at directing the funds towards programmes and activities. We recently had a very successful workshop that indicated a need for collaboration across departments in order to enhance the moral regeneration campaign and get it back on track.

Our Investing in Culture programme strives to develop cultural capital by allocating resources to ensure return on investment that will fulfill the key objectives of the Department and broader government imperatives, such as job creation, training, skills transfer and, primarily, empowerment of the lower end of the economic chain. The programme vigorously embraces the principles of Black Economic Empowerment. It also functions in the framework of cooperative governance.

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The Investing in Culture programme slots into broader government programmes like the Expanded Public Works Programme, the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme and the Urban Renewal Programme. Through collaboration with the Department of Provincial and Local Government, some projects have been incorporated in the integrated development plans of municipalities.

To highlight the importance and value of the Investing in Culture Programme, I want to be bold and refer to the specific statistics compiled by the HSRC regarding the contribution of culture to the gross domestic product and the job creation potential of the cultural industries.

Craft, for instance, generates an income of R3,5 billion per annum and employs over 1,2 million people; the music industry generates R900 million a year and employs over 12 000 people; the film and video industry generates R518 million a year; and printing and publishing R2 billion a year. These statistics were determined despite the absence of reliable indicators. Through the Investing in Culture programme we are endeavouring to increase the job creation potential of the arts and we are setting a target of 10 000 jobs within the next three years, but we are also working towards the creation of SMMEs and self-sustaining jobs for people in the cultural, arts and heritage sectors.

During my numerous visits to the provinces on Investing in Culture roadshows, it was evident that this programme can become a major tool in teaching and empowering the people at grassroots level, whilst at the same time rekindling cultural activity as a core element of community life, in both rural and urban areas. To this effect we have done a feasibility study in Mpumalanga, where this focus area will be piloted.

Of the R57,7 million allocated for 2004/05, we supported 104 projects. Regrettably, we had to turn down 203 projects, some of them very deserving of support.

It is evident that the Investing in Culture Programme has the potential not only to reach the poorest of the poor, but to empower rural communities, urban poor, women and youth, and to elevate the beneficiaries of the programme to a sustainable level of entrepreneurship, at the same time ensuring the authenticity and quality of our cultural heritage.

The USA/SA Crafting Cultural Understanding Programme is a good example of the export potential promoted through the Investing in Culture Programme. The Programme is looking at synergies with the Department of Trade and Industry aimed at developing a strategy for marketing cultural products and services.

A critical factor in the transformation of this sector was to devise legislation which did not simply provide an enabling framework in the historical areas such as the performing arts, but also to pave the way for new areas of engagement such as the film industry and its development as a viable industry which contributes to the economic development, job creation and emergence of a South African aesthetic in this sector. Quite recently we have been joined by the international community in celebrating the first fruits of this initiative through works such as “uCarmen eKhayelitsha”, Zola Maseko's “Mr Drum” and the nomination of “Yesterday” for an Oscar.

The international awards bestowed on the South African film industry, in places as far afield as Ouagadougou and Berlin, are not merely a cause for celebration, but serve as an affirmation of our efforts to realize the potential of this sector. It is appropriate that we should take the opportunity given us by this debate to pay tribute to all those involved in foregrounding the South African film industry.

A critical factor in the transformation of this sector of cultural industries continues to be the issue of access to finance (so that our artists and filmmakers can produce works that are wholly and proudly South African both in terms of intellectual property and rights and Black Economic Empowerment. We need to enhance the already visible potential of the sector and encourage a broader participation through the development of a BEE framework for our cultural industries.

It is not only the film industry which has brought us accolades. South African music is making significant gains. The sterling work of the Ladysmith Black Mambazo was rewarded with a Grammy Award, and young artists such as Thandiswa and Malaika are enjoyed both at home and abroad. These are some of the indications that, with the harnessing of skills, the opening up of access to opportunities, and the mainstreaming of gender equity in the cultural industries, we can actually achieve sustainable development and growth in this sector.

Over the past two years we have directed our energies to the transformation of our heritage sector, from being an underperforming national asset to one that can contribute to the social and economic fabric of the country, and to ensure that, through heritage preservation and protection, we can restore the dignity of all South Africans.

Within the first decade of our democracy we have seen six South African sites declared World Heritage Sites. The declaration of these sites is a clear acknowledgement that the heritage landscape of our country does qualify as “outstanding universal value”. To date 180 countries, including South Africa, are signatories to the World Heritage Convention.

Madam Speaker, the role of heritage in economic development is well understood not only by conservationists and other experts in the field, but also by economic planners in both developed and developing countries. Countries such Egypt, India, Brazil and China have developed strategies which have aligned heritage preservation to sustainable economic development.

For South Africans, a sober reality in the transformation of this sector has always been that of custodianship of our collective heritage. The Apartheid system distorted and denied or suppressed the true landscape of the country's heritage. Yet, the true essence of who we are as a people is embedded in our history and culture. Our historical sites, the collections in our museums, our tangible and intangible heritage, all reflect the streams of this mosaic we call the “rainbow nation”.

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For a long time the majority of South African communities were denied an opportunity to be custodians of this heritage. The time has come for all structures of civil society, including the trade union movement, faith-based organizations, traditional leadership, business communities and other organs of civil society to work together to protect and preserve our heritage. The custodianship and protection of our heritage requires nothing less of us. As important is the imperative to share equitably in the economic benefits derived from heritage resources.

Economic challenges such as job creation, the eradication of poverty and the integration of the second economy in the first must be turned into opportunities for mainstreaming the benefits of this asset. Ownership of heritage resources deserves special attention. The empowerment of SMMEs in the sector, and the participation of women in wealth-generating initiatives, need to be discussed. The Expanded Public Works Programmes must also invest in the maintenance of the heritage infrastructure of our country. The task of transforming this sector offers unique challenges and exciting opportunities for our country.

Madam Speaker, together with the African Union and Nepad we have embarked on the road to restore, preserve and protect African heritage. In 2004 South Africa was elected to Chair of the 29th Session of the World Heritage Committee. From 10 to 17 July this year, South Africa will therefore be hosting, in Durban, the conference of the 180 countries which are signatories to this Convention. This will be the first time that the World Heritage Committee meets in sub-Saharan Africa since the World Heritage Convention was adopted in 1972. With other African countries, and with the support of the African Union, we have crafted an Africa Position Paper which outlines a 10-year strategy for the preservation of Africa's heritage. This strategy will be deliberated upon by the international community at the Durban gathering.

Within UNESCO not only do we have the privilege of chairing the World Heritage Committee, we also have the responsibility of chairing the Commission on Cultural Diversity, as well as the IUCN, whose task it is to focus on the conservation of the world’s natural heritage. Our bilateral agreements with international partners have seen increased financial and other resources for the arts and culture sector in our country. We are honoured by the confidence that the international community has shown in South Africa as part of a broader network of leadership in the preservation, promotion and protection of culture and heritage, and are fully aware of our responsibility in this regard.

The Department of Arts and Culture has been involved with the South African Presidential Initiative of South African and Malian cooperation on the Timbuktu Manuscripts. This has been adopted as a Nepad Cultural Project.

Contrary to what we were led to believe when we were growing up, Timbuktu is not a remote, unreachable place, but a West African town of great historical significance, once a centre of commerce and scholarship in the region.

The Timbuktu Manuscripts cover a range of subjects, including astronomy, optics, chemistry, mathematics, botany, traditional medicines, law, philosophy conflict resolution and musicology. Our immediate challenge is the preservation and conservation of this wealth of knowledge.

South Africa has been involved in the training of Malian conservators who are working at the Ahmed Baba Centre in Timbuktu. Already five conservators, hosted by our National Archives, have been trained at the Conservation Studios in Tshwane and the National Library in Cape Town.

The project has also undertaken to raise funds within South Africa to rebuild and restore the Ahmed Baba Centre. A team of South African architects, engineers and builders have already visited Mali with a view to initiating the construction programme.

In the context of the African Renaissance, our challenge is to reclaim and embrace the rich African heritage which we were denied for centuries by Eurocentric perspectives, colonial racism and racial domination. The Timbuktu Manuscripts are our heritage, and both our President and President Touré of Mali hope that the manuscripts will stimulate academic study and research in a range of academic subjects.

Madame Speaker, the Budget Vote under discussion today is, in my view, inadequate to do all the things that we need to. The DAC has tried to carry out its mandate to deliver transformation in the arts, culture and heritage sector in spite of a legacy of fragmentation and limited resources. We have, at least, achieved unity of purpose in promoting arts, culture and heritage. The diversity that once threatened to divide us has, to a considerable extent, been harnessed to become a source of unifying strength and pride. We are uniquely poised to contribute towards social cohesion and sustainable development here at home, and towards better understanding, tolerance and peace among the nations of this continent and, indeed, the world.

The doors of learning and culture have been opened!

I thank you.

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