Keynote Address delivered by MEC Norah Mahlangu at the 2nd edition of the Mpumalanga Cultural Xperience
December 1, 2017 at 09:37 a.mHonorable Premier DD Mabuza
Members of parliament
Members of the Executive Council
Members of the legislature
Executive mayors
Members of the Mayoral Councils
Councilors
All Government officials present here
The leadership of Moral Regeneration Movement
Distinguished guests from the South Africa and abroad
Local and Internal Artists
Media personnel
Lotjhani
Program Director, we are excited to be here today to officially welcome the people of Mpumalanga and the world to the second edition of the Mpumalanga Cultural Xperience 2017. This event culminates from the State of the Province address pronounced by the Premier in 2016 as the signature event to be hosted annually.
This year’s event has been realigned to forge common ground in celebrating our cultural diversity in the province partnering with the House of Traditional Leaders. Traditional leaders are one of our key stakeholder and as government we will always seek their wisdom for the promotion and cultivation of culture. They are the custodian of culture and practice.
The Mpumalanga Cultural Xperience is benchmarked with Mangaung Cultural Festival (Macufe). The festival is used to promote economic growth, showcase talent, and promote sport and tourism. It is exactly the mission of Mpumalanga Provincial Government and we call on the people to support this initiative.
Program Director, at this festival we have invited artists from diverse cultures across all racial lines to perform. Through the festival we intend to promote local talent, marketing the province as a tourist destination and creation of jobs for arts practitioners and Small Medium Micro-enterprises.
We will use the festival as a center of attraction for both local and international audiences and most importantly to drive our core mandate which is Social Cohesion and Nation Building.
The Mpumalanga Cultural Xperience festival is built out of five pillars which we are going to experience from today until the 03rd of December 2017 (Sunday). The pillars are as follows: the first pillar is the Carnival and traditional Festival, the second pillar MRM Prayer and Gospel Festival, the third pillar is Music Festival and the last Pillar being the Sunday Soul Session and Kasi Xperience. We have committed that we will introduce new pillars annually.
The Oleg Lundstren Jazz Orchestra of Russian, the most “long playing big band in the world” performed on Wednesday night (29 November 2017), at the Communion Auditorium. The orchestra brought all different races under one roof and we will continue to host such events that are meant to bridge the social divide.
We have in the process of organizing this event learnt some new ways of doing things and we are going to do better the following year. It should be noted that we welcome views and inputs so as to ensure that we do things that will make the people of Mpumalanga proud.
As I conclude, let me take this opportunity and thank everyone who has made this project a success it was not easy but we are here. All those who come far in support of this wonderful course enjoy the festival. The community of the Mpumalanga,this is your project build it and own it.
Let us grow together!
Ngiyathokoza