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22 June 2004Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Ours is a country blessed with a wealth of arts, cultures and languages. Our country consists of nine provinces. From these highly diverse components we have made a collective commitment to knit together a new nation. That challenge is at the core of the Department of Arts and Cultures brief. This department has been tasked with the responsibility of being the custodian of South Africa’s diverse cultural and artistic heritage. Our vision is to harness these to engender social cohesion and to enhance nation building. In his State of the Nation Address, President Mbeki urged us to achieve "further and visible advances with regard to the improvement of the quality of life of all our people, affecting many critical areas of social existence, including ... moral regeneration, social cohesion, [and] opening the doors of culture and education to all". This Department is uniquely placed to contribute to the realization of these goals. It has been striving towards them since 1994. We owe our achievements over the last ten years to the DAC’s predecessor, the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. The DAC is thus a new department, created this year by separating the Arts and Culture functions from Science and Technology. I want to acknowledge the sterling contribution of former Minister Dr Ben Ngubane, who oversaw the many achievements in this sector during the last decade. They include
The past financial year saw further substantial developments, which will have considerable impact at provincial level. A new directorate, the Directorate: Arts and Culture in Society, has been set up within the Department to steer the arts and culture on a course of social regeneration by providing strategic support to arts institutions and organizations of civil society. The Directorate’s most important function is to address issues of inclusion and integration so as to end resource inequalities in the sector. Inclusion of vulnerable groups such as the disabled, youth, women and children is one of its strategic imperatives. Through its Promotion of Arts and Culture in South Africa sub-programme, we hope to contribute directly to social development through programmes directed at out of school youth, the rehabilitation of prisoners and to the Moral Regeneration Movement. A sub-directorate, Arts and Social Development is responsible for initiating and managing projects and programmes aimed at social cohesion. Its primary focus is youth, HIV and Aids, crime prevention, human rights and disability. We plan a project: "Arts in Prisons", whose focus will be on using the arts to modify the behaviour of offenders serving time in prison. Beginning July 2004 the "Outstanding Inmate in Arts" and "Dramatists against Crime" projects will commence in cooperation with the Department of Correctional Services. Madame Chairperson, During 2003 the National Heritage Council was established to improve the management of heritage resources and the transformation of the sector. Transforming our museums and art galleries is a big challenge that will entail rigorous research to make them truly representative and correcting numerous historical distortions. Six of nine Pilot Legacy Projects approved by Cabinet in 1998 were completed by June 2003, including the Women’s Monument and Constitution Hill. The Chief Albert Luthuli project will be unveiled in July 2004 once it has been completed. A new portfolio of projects, located in various provinces, was ready for submission to Cabinet for consideration and approval in July 2003. These are the Mapungubwe, eMakhosini Valley, Liliesleaf, Steven Bantubonke Biko, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe and Sarah Bartmann projects. To speed up their implementation, the Department will cooperate with other implementation agencies, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations, while the DAC acts as overall manager and monitors their execution. Last year the Cabinet approved the National Language Policy Framework, to promote the equitable use of the 11 official languages and to ensure redress for previously marginalized indigenous languages. In March 2004 the Department launched the Language Initiatives Programme. Of particular importance to provinces is the setting up of nine Language Research and Development Centres (LRDCs), one for each of South Africa’s nine indigenous languages, at tertiary institutions situated among communities where those languages are spoken. One of the National Language Service outputs for 2003 was the development, in collaboration with nine tertiary institutions, of Mathematics terminology in all nine African languages. A Mathematics terminology list, containing approximately 10 000 terms, was consequently launched in June 2004. In the 2003/04 financial year, substantial progress was made with the Declared Cultural Institutions, situated in six of the provinces. New councils were established for all 13 bodies, and a transformation budget of R7 million was distributed. These new councils face many challenges. They have to improve access to the museum infrastructure, developing new audiences, develop human resources, implement an affirmative action policy by training, grooming and appointing a new generation of curators and managers from all races, implement exciting community outreach programmes, introduce acquisition policies that accord indigenous artifacts their rightful place, and integrate living heritage in the form of oral tradition, oral history and indigenous knowledge systems into the ambit of our heritage institutions. Within the Department itself, the targets set by the White Paper have been exceeded. The White Paper set a management target of 50% black; it now stands at 86% black; the target for females in management was 30%; it now stands at 32% female. Overall, the staff composition is 70% black, 30% white, 55% female and 45% male. Service delivery in all our programmes has been good. Arts and Culture in Society mainstreams the role of arts and culture and supports various disciplines via grants disbursed by the National Arts Council Its sub-programme, the Promotion of Arts and Culture in South Africa, develops the literary, performing and visual arts by providing financial assistance to performing arts institutions. It is active in 24 community arts centres around the country and funds 10 festivals every year. In the past year, the Department successfully assisted 15 historic community arts centres with their funding applications to the National Lottery Distribution Fund. The R5 million application has been approved by the Fund. The setting up of Provincial Steering Committees and the National Steering Committee for community arts centres will ensure a long-term and transparent relationship between the Department and the sector. DAC offers administrative and financial support to nine provincial steering committees. Collaboration with provincial departments is yielding gradual but positive results. Eight provinces have received funding for their projects, which involve all the major centres in each province. In total, R1,8 million has been invested in regional community arts centre projects. In the past financial year, R1,4 million was allocated for a number of programmes in 13 community centres, both older centres and those built by the Department between 1996 and 2001 under its RDP Stabilization of Youth and Children Programme. The Promotion of Arts and Culture in South Africa sub-programme funded six theatres, three orchestras, and a range of other artistic endeavours in the past financial year. A National Heritage Month celebration was held at the Union Buildings in September last year, with the theme emphasizing our national symbols and national orders. The promotion of the new national symbols to the South African general public will continue in 2004/05. Cultural Development and International Cooperation, one of the Department's most important programmes, is the gateway to economic and other development opportunities for South African arts and culture at provincial, national and international level. The programme’s key activities include supporting the cultural industries and the development of arts training, as well as maintaining 37 international agreements. The Department has a partnership with the Flemish Government, through which six substantive projects are being managed. These include the development of the arts and education training sector in KwaZulu-Natal by the in and pre-service training of artists and art teachers. AET has also held accreditation workshops around the country to alert training providers, in both the formal and informal sectors, to the requirements of the South African Qualifications Authority. The establishment of CREATE SA stands out as AET’s most important achievements. Through CREATE SA, learnerships driven by industry demand have been awarded in a wide range of areas, including music, design, crafts, arts management, heritage and the performing arts. Since 2003 approximately 2 000 learnerships or skills development programmes have been taken up. Our Cultural Development and International Cooperation programme is also responsible for the Investing in Culture programme. It focuses on the crafts, music, heritage and cultural tourism sectors. .Investing in Culture aims to identify and use existing skills within communities and among individuals. It is the single most significant intervention the Department is making in the Second Economy. To date
The National Treasury has recognized the contribution the DAC is making to the fight to eradicate poverty and create remunerative work. We have been given a bigger budget allocation, but an even bigger allocation will enable us to do a great deal more! The Department’s plans for 2004/05 are dominated by transfers to heritage institutions and to arts and culture institutions. It is projected that such transfer will take up an average of 82.9% of the Department’s expenditure over the medium term. The Arts and Culture in Society programme is required to fund performing arts institutions, orchestras, the National Arts Council and the Promotion of Arts and Culture in South Africa sub-programme. The Department plans to continue the work outlined earlier, as well as attempting an equitable distribution of funds to ensure the sustainability of playhouses, orchestras and the Moral Regeneration Movement. Two new orchestras are projected for 2004/05. We will also provide grants to programmes in the 24 community arts centres where we are active, and fund 10 arts festivals, as well as arts projects specifically focusing on the disabled. We plan to increase the participation of the disabled in festivals and enhance their access to arts and culture in general. The sum of R93 243 000 has been allocated to performing arts institutions. Orchestras are to receive R9 million. Promotion of Arts and Culture has been allocated R36 242 000, and the National Arts Council R44 668 000. Arts and Culture in Society is to receive a total of R218 153 000, or 19,11% of the Department’s budget. The National Language Service is essential for transformation. Equity for indigenous languages, the heart of the language policy spelt out in our Constitution, came closer to realization when the Department unveiled three Language Development Initiatives at the Advancing Multilingualism in a Democratic South Africa conference in Durban on 30 and 31 March 2004. The initiatives are:
The Department has provided R9 million in its budget for 2004/2005 for the setting up of the LRDCs and R5 million for the bursary scheme. Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu will each have an LRDC to ensure their public use in important fields ranging from law to education, and to encourage and support language-related research that is relevant and responsive to the needs of the speakers of these languages. The Centres will work closely with their respective communities, and forge partnerships with non-governmental and community-based organizations. Of all their tasks, perhaps the most immediately important will be providing interpreting and translating services to the community either directly or by referral. The Centres will be set up at the following tertiary institutions: the University of the North West (Setswana), Tivumbeni College of Education (Xitsonga), the University of Venda (Tshivenda), the University of Zululand (isiZulu), the University of Port Elizabeth (isiXhosa), Pretoria Technikon, Nelspruit (Siswati), the KwaNdebele College of Education (isiNdebele), the University of the North (Sepedi), and the University of the Free State (Sesotho). Here I must point out the application of the principle of functional multilingualism/linguistic differentiation that will ensure that communities located in close proximity to the institution have access to both the production and consumption of knowledge. Exhibitions and educational programmes should be packaged in languages predominant in a particular province, city, town or village so that they are congruent, accessible and gain patronage from the surrounding communities before the rest of South Africa and the world. The need for translation from and into foreign languages has grown as South Africa has become more active in the international arena. This finds reflection in the programme’s budget. We plan to establish 20 sites for Telephone Interpreting Service, at clinics and customer care centres by December 2004. The completion of terminology lists for science and technology is scheduled for September 2004 Overall, the National Language Service has been allocated R78 049 000, distributed as follows:
The provision for National Language Service includes a once-off amount for implementing the National Language Policy Framework. The National Language Service has been allocated 6,84% of the DAC budget. Just over half the budget for Cultural Development and International Co-operation is devoted to Investing in Culture: R 75 000 000 of R 149 000 000. Cultural Industries has been allocated R16 600 000. Funds will be transferred to support music, craft, books and publishing, film, design and other sectors in 2004/05. Cultural Development and International Cooperation has been allocated 13,05% of the departmental budget. The of Heritage Promotion programme has set aside R340 804 000 for declared cultural institutions, and R175 740 000 for capital works. There is an urgent need to refurbish our heritage infrastructure so that our museums become world-class exhibition spaces and access facilities. Special emphasis is being placed on enhancing ease of access for the physically challenged. Our capital investments strategy includes
The National Heritage Council and Transformation receive R21 867 000. Heritage Transformation projects include the Oral History Project, the results of which we plan to incorporate into the National Register of Oral Sources. The South African Heritage Resources Agency is of specific interest to the provinces. SAHRA advocates a three-tier system of heritage management (at national, provincial and local level) and a grading system to classify heritage resources. Section 34 of the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999 places the responsibility of granting permits squarely on the provincial heritage resources authorities. It reads: "No person may alter or demolish any structure or part of a structure which is older than 60 years without a permit issued by the relevant provincial heritage resources authority." This suggests that that the PHRAs must be the most capacitated authorities because they carry sole responsibility for granting permits that are necessary for development and conservation. The challenge that the heritage sector has been facing is the slow inauguration of PHRAs in some of the provinces. Even where they exist, they lack capacity to execute their functions. In the Budget Vote, the South African Heritage Resources Agency is allocated R16 512 000. With the participation of communities, we aim to declare several new heritage sites by September 2004. The Promotion of Heritage has been allocated R30 591 000. Key objectives in this sector include
A total of R593 675 000, or 52% of the Department’s budget, is set aside for Heritage Promotion. Departmental costs are for staffing, which accounts for R78 746 000, and administration, which accounts for R35 314 000. The total of R7 million, together with the funds available specifically to address Social Cohesion and Social Justice, means the Department will play a considerable part in helping to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment and enhancing the process of social cohesion. I end by extending an invitation from the Department of Arts and Culture to the National Council of Provinces, and to the arts and culture communities, to join us in opening the doors of culture to all, and in promoting social cohesion and nation-building. We are taking up challenge to "get down to work in a people’s contract to build a better South Africa and a better world". Thank you! Ndiyabulela.
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