Former Deputy Minister Speeches
It gives me great pleasure to address you at this important occasion. Today marks yet another progress in this “Age of Hope” where Arts and Culture through the medium of television is being used by our filmmakers to preserve our heritage.
It is, indeed, an honour and a great pleasure for me to address you this morning and to open the 3 rd Annual Oral History Conference.I may sound like an old cracked gramophone record but, I must confess, I know of no other apt and powerful quotation other than the words of President Seretse Khama, the first President of a democratic Botswana, who said: “A nation without a past, is a lost nation; a people without a past is a people without a soul”. Oral history is an important tool for keeping that past alive, for understanding it and for preserving it for the future in order to preserve our soul.
It is indeed a great pleasure and an honour for me to address you this morning and open this Outward Bound International Convention. Of course, at my age, it is also a privilege to address people who are far younger than I am, but who have a purpose in life - young people who are prepared to make a positive difference in their own life and in the lives of other people. This spirit of humanness is highly commendable. This is what we refer to as “Ubuntu” in South Africa.
It is, indeed, a great pleasure and an honour for me to be addressing you this evening. I came all the way from Pretoria to be here tonight because I regard this film festival and this awards ceremony as a very important step in the growth of the creative industries and the film industry in particular.
Firstly, I would like to thank the organizers of this Retreat for the privilege to address you tonight and to share with you some our of thoughts with regard to the issues of gender violence, culture and gender inequality. I am saying “our thoughts” because what I am going to say tonight is not solely about my brilliant ideas and wisdom. These are ideas that have come out of many discussions that we have been having with a number of people, women and men, who are grappling with these issues. I would like to acknowledge with thanks all those people (and, of course, they know who they are) who have made a contribution to this, my speech, and who have made me to appear wiser today. So, I am just the spokesperson.
Ukuvuselelwa kweAfrika kuqala ngokuthi kuvuselelwe iilwimi zamaAfrika kunye noluncwadi lwawo. Ndicinga into yokuba iya kunceda kakhulu into yokuba abantu abasebenzisa iilwimi zesiNtu kunye noluncwadi lwazo, ukuba baqaphele isiMemezelo sase-Asmara ngokuphathelele kwiilwimi zamaAfrika kunye noluncwadi lwawo, esasihlongoza imvuselelo yeelwimi zamaAfrika kunye noluncwadi lwawo kwinkomfa eyayibanjelwe e-Asmara ngomnyaka we-2000.
African Renaissance begins with a renaissance in African languages and literatures, I think it would be helpful, for the sake of all the speakers and users of African languages to note the Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures which was the outcome of a call for a renaissance in African Languages and Literatures at a conference of African writers and scholars held in Asmara, Eritrea in 2000.
It is with a deep sense of humility and appreciation that I accepted the invitation from SAHRA to come here today to participate in this special ceremony in honour of our beloved mother, Mme Charlotte Maxeke. Today I am at a loss for words. It is, indeed, a memorable day but also for some of us it is a very emotional day and I would like to thank SAHRA as well as the Mannya and Maxeke families for affording us this privilege.
South Africa is honoured to have been invited to participate in the 10 th Venice Architectural Biennale. South Africa’s decision to take part in the Biennale is motivated by the desire to promote discussion and dialogue on the transformation of spaces as a means of altering and improving the quality of life o all the people of our country. In particular, we believe that this dialogue will bridge the social and cultural gap between the communities of our young democracy and shape our new national identity based on non-racialism and non-sexism, united in our diversity.
I would like to thank the University of Venda, the Traditional Leadership, the Provincial government and the Local Municipality (Vhembe?) for organising this event that involves both the indigenous communities and the academia in the collection and promotion of our living heritage.When our Department took the decision to forge partnerships with the Universities of Venda, Fort Hare and Zululand to pursue research in the area of Indigenous Music and Oral History, we did so because we began to realise, and indeed, appreciate the wealth of knowledge and skills which our people are endowed with, that remains largely untapped.