Thank You, Programme Director,

Mrs Zanele Mbeki,

Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Ministers here present,

Your, Honour the Mayor of Tshwane,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to be welcome you all this evening. I am particularly delighted to welcome our First Lady, Mrs Zanele Mbeki, who is principal patron of this Crafts Market and has graciously agreed to lend us the premises of the Presidency for the occasion.

Thank You ever so much, Mrs Mbeki.

The crafts in South Africa have a very long history, dating from the days before machines were used to manufacture goods. The crafts are a niche market in an area where the handmade object, invested with the individual skill, dedication and eye of the crafter, is highly valued. The crafts flourish where the machine does not find it worthwhile to tread.

In a recent months the Deputy Minister, Ms Ntombazana Botha and I, took the decision that one of the flagship programmes of the Department of Arts and Culture must be the crafts. In July, during the Football World Cup in Germany, we were able to mount a small but very successful crafts market in Cologne. Today we are unveiling our distinctly South African crafts brand, “Beautiful Things”, which I am certain will leave a memorable mark on the international marketplace.

Using traditional skills in craft production, “Beautiful Things” will be retailed through outlets in South Africa in the first instance, but will soon reach shops internationally.

South Africa has unique and innovative products with considerable product diversity. I am certain, judging by what we have on display here, that South Africa’s crafters will expand and extend the range of their products and will do this country proud.

The exploitation of crafters is a well known scandal. Because crafters often lack the skills to market and retail what they produce, unregulated middle persons have bought cheap and sold dear to retailers and to buyers. Every penny spent here will go to the crafters who produced them. Our brand, “Beautiful Things”, will continue this practice into the future so as to ensure the direct producers receive value for the time, talent and effort they have invest in their crafts.

Today’s craft’s market is a good example of what is possible provided the interventions we make are well-timed and appropriate. Its purpose is, in part, to demonstrate that it is possible to adapt and develop the traditional skills that communities already possess to integrate them more fully into the mainstream of the economy.

The crafters whose work is on display here are drawn from every part of South Africa. The high level of quality control, judicious purchasing and a knowledge of the market performance of various products has ensured that what we shall be selling here today can stand any test – aesthetic or otherwise – that even the most critical eye could devise.

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