Executive Mayor of Govan Mbeki Municipality
Councillors Present
National Arts and Culture Officials
Ladies and Gentlemen
We are pleased that we are gathered here in Bethal for a dialogue on the transformation of the Heritage Sector in our province with a special focus on statues, symbols and place names that define our public spaces. Bethal is a strategic area in our province in terms of heritage preservation as we have the cultural precinct that houses the statues of struggle hero and heroine, Gert Sibande and Nokuthula Simelane. The provincial government built the statues to build an inclusive heritage through building monuments and other symbols that honour the heroes and heroines of the struggle that delivered the freedom and democracy we enjoy today.
We appeal to all communities in the province to join government’s noble efforts of building the inclusive heritage as we are a united country that needs to work together to preserve and promote our heritage. We have observed an unacceptable behavior by a few criminal elements within society who previously vandalized the statues of Sibande and Simelane and these kind of actions have no space in our democratic country as we cannot allow criminals to undermine efforts of honoruing our struggle stalwarts who sacrificed their own lives for the ushering of freedom in our country. We therefore condemn in strongest possible terms the vandalizing and destroying of these statues and others in various parts of our country and we will not fold our arms when few people perpetuate criminality that seek to undermine the gains of democracy through their ill-informed actions.
We would want to see those that might hold different views about the preservation of our heritage through building monuments canvassing their views openly so that we could address their concerns and emerge from this dialogue united so that we could work together to foster multi-cultural consciousness where will together appreciate the past injuries as well as our diverse heritage which will enable us to build an inclusive society.
We know of our painful past and there are symbols that bring about painful memories to our people and we urge our people not to vandalise such symbols but they should work together with government in identifying the symbols so that they could be removed from public spaces and be placed in a park of symbols that will assist to reflect the history of our country.
As the provincial government, we remain committed to transforming the heritage of our province including standardizing names so that they reflect the demographics of our country and we will continue involving communities in this regard and consulting them accordingly so that they could be part of all the decisions that government takes. We urge communities more in particular those from minority groups, to fully participate in the various structures that seek to transform our province so that they could also have a voice in these structures. As the provincial government, we will this year place emphasis on the identification, preservation and management of our heritage sites – this will range from the tangible and intangible heritage to archaeological sites, sites relating to our pre-colonial period in the wake of the massive development in and around our province.
To this end, the Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation will continue to support initiatives of the Mpumalanga Heritage Authority to protect and manage the heritage of the province. In a similar vein, the Department will also be embarking on a process of conducting preliminary assessments on sites unearthed in the Liberation Heritage Route Research as part of formal protection, identification and earmarking for future development. We place high value in ensuring that our citizens play an active role in the preservation, protection and sustainable usage of our heritage and associated activities. We will reinvigorate our support to both local and provincial museums in our quest to highlight the valuable role these institutions play in our societies.
In Conclusion Programme Director, we are happy that the National Department of Arts and Culture is partnering with the Mpumalanga department of Culture, Sport and Recreation to convene this dialogue in our province and we urge all stakeholders to participate fully and engage in discussions that will assist the province to have an inclusive heritage that will help to foster national building and social cohesion in our country.
I thank you.
Executive Mayor of Govan Mbeki Municipality
Councillors Present
National Arts and Culture Officials
Ladies and Gentlemen
We are pleased that we are gathered here in Bethal for a dialogue on the transformation of the Heritage Sector in our province with a special focus on statues, symbols and place names that define our public spaces. Bethal is a strategic area in our province in terms of heritage preservation as we have the cultural precinct that houses the statues of struggle hero and heroine, Gert Sibande and Nokuthula Simelane. The provincial government built the statues to build an inclusive heritage through building monuments and other symbols that honour the heroes and heroines of the struggle that delivered the freedom and democracy we enjoy today.
We appeal to all communities in the province to join government’s noble efforts of building the inclusive heritage as we are a united country that needs to work together to preserve and promote our heritage. We have observed an unacceptable behavior by a few criminal elements within society who previously vandalized the statues of Sibande and Simelane and these kind of actions have no space in our democratic country as we cannot allow criminals to undermine efforts of honoruing our struggle stalwarts who sacrificed their own lives for the ushering of freedom in our country. We therefore condemn in strongest possible terms the vandalizing and destroying of these statues and others in various parts of our country and we will not fold our arms when few people perpetuate criminality that seek to undermine the gains of democracy through their ill-informed actions.
We would want to see those that might hold different views about the preservation of our heritage through building monuments canvassing their views openly so that we could address their concerns and emerge from this dialogue united so that we could work together to foster multi-cultural consciousness where will together appreciate the past injuries as well as our diverse heritage which will enable us to build an inclusive society.
We know of our painful past and there are symbols that bring about painful memories to our people and we urge our people not to vandalise such symbols but they should work together with government in identifying the symbols so that they could be removed from public spaces and be placed in a park of symbols that will assist to reflect the history of our country.
As the provincial government, we remain committed to transforming the heritage of our province including standardizing names so that they reflect the demographics of our country and we will continue involving communities in this regard and consulting them accordingly so that they could be part of all the decisions that government takes. We urge communities more in particular those from minority groups, to fully participate in the various structures that seek to transform our province so that they could also have a voice in these structures. As the provincial government, we will this year place emphasis on the identification, preservation and management of our heritage sites – this will range from the tangible and intangible heritage to archaeological sites, sites relating to our pre-colonial period in the wake of the massive development in and around our province.
To this end, the Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation will continue to support initiatives of the Mpumalanga Heritage Authority to protect and manage the heritage of the province. In a similar vein, the Department will also be embarking on a process of conducting preliminary assessments on sites unearthed in the Liberation Heritage Route Research as part of formal protection, identification and earmarking for future development. We place high value in ensuring that our citizens play an active role in the preservation, protection and sustainable usage of our heritage and associated activities. We will reinvigorate our support to both local and provincial museums in our quest to highlight the valuable role these institutions play in our societies.
In Conclusion Programme Director, we are happy that the National Department of Arts and Culture is partnering with the Mpumalanga department of Culture, Sport and Recreation to convene this dialogue in our province and we urge all stakeholders to participate fully and engage in discussions that will assist the province to have an inclusive heritage that will help to foster national building and social cohesion in our country.
I thank you.