Chair, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members in the House and guests, South Africa is a hub of talent. We see how gifted our people are on reality television and at arts festivals throughout the country. Yet our young performing artists and students have to endure great stress to secure jobs in their industry due to barriers and challenges.
The arts and culture industry is small, yet there is immense talent and the potential to expand and create lucrative markets and platforms for all our local artists.
There is a lack of funds for all aspects of our arts and culture sector. It is clear that the arts are underfunded in South Africa and we have to find ways to increase the funding so that our artists and heritage foundations can truly express the unique diversity and perspectives of our great nation. A pressing concern is the lack of music and performing arts schools in the country, especially in the rural areas, where potential musicians and performing artists and even young writers can be trained and groomed for greatness and to become the legends that Africa as a whole is so well-known for.
While many parts of this sector are unlikely to ever be financially self- sufficient, it is clear that we need to integrate business practice and capacity to make arts and culture financially viable, without compromising the integrity of the artists' creativity.
Arts and culture must be the most powerful tool we as nation could use to bridge the gap of inequality in South Africa. The reason is simple: Art is universal and it knows no boundaries. As a social tool it knits together racial and cultural divides and blurs differences in our society. However, this is often very difficult, as poor South Africans cannot, for instance, afford the cost of an excursion to Robben Island or even to Table Mountain.
South Africans should be encouraged to support local artists to focus on nation-building, a common national identity, pride and social cohesion, while at the same time appreciating our rich diversity.
Die Departement van Kuns en Kultuur speel 'n baie groot rol in ons mense se lewens. Ek wil u vra om rrig aandag te skenk aan ons kinders op skoolvlak, sodat hulle kan leer hoe belangrik kuns en kultuur is, dat dit werk kan skep, dat dit kinders 'n beroep kan aanbied, dat dit kinders 'n toekoms kan gee, en sodoende ons land uit armoede kan red.
Ek weet die uitdagings is groot. Ek weet dit is baie om te doen, maar Lotto bestee geld op baie onnodige dinge. Ons bestee geld op dinge wat nie nodig is nie.
Ons kinders het dinge soos biblioteke nodig. Ons biblioteke moet beter daarna uitsien en moet beter boeke kry. Ons biblioteke se boeke is nie goed vir die kinders om te lees nie. Ons kinders moet die ware geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika kan lees, en nie geskiedenis wat vir hulle voorgeskryf is nie en wat sommige kere nie die waarheid is nie. Ons kinders moet reggehelp word sodat ons kinders regte dinge kan doen hier in Suid-Afrika, want ons kinders kan die geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika verstaan.
Ek was byvoorbeeld bevoorreg gewees om familie te h in Zimbabwe en in Zambi wat die ware geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika geken het, terwyl ons kinders dit nie geken het nie.(Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[The Department of Arts and Culture plays an important role in the lives of our people. I would like to ask you to pay serious attention to our children at school level, in order for them to learn how important arts and culture are, that they can create job opportunities, that they offer children a vocation, that they provide children with a future and in this way pull our country out of poverty.
I know the challenges are considerable; I know that there is much to be done, but the Lotto spends money on many unnecessary things. We spend money on things that are not needed.
Our children need things such as libraries. Our libraries should be in a better state and should stock better books. The books in our libraries are not suitable for the children to read. Our children should read about the true history of South Africa and not the history that is prescribed to them and which, sometimes, is not the truth. Our children should be given guidance in order for them to do the right thing here in South Africa, because our children would have an understanding of the history of South Africa.
I had the privilege, for example, to have family in Zimbabwe and in Zambia who knew the true history of South Africa, whereas our children weren't familiar with it.]
I thank you.
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Sihlalo wale Ndlu ehloniphekile, mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe nePhini lakho, amalungu ahloniphekile ale Ndlu, izikhulu zoMnyango wezoBuciko namaSiko, uma sikhuluma ngobuciko besizwe, sisuke sikhuluma ngeciko lokumpompoloza komuntu ngayedwana ecula bese kuba nemikhutshana yethu njengezwe lase-Afrika lapho sinothe khona. Sinothe emasikweni ethu, sinothe ekuziculeleni lowo mculo wesintu yingakho abanye baze bathi iNingizimu Afrika yisizwe sezizwe ezixubile ngoba bonke laba bantu bahlukahlukene.
Ngilizwile iPhini likaNgqongqoshe lithi kukhona enizama ukukwenza ngale mikhakha yaseNyuvesi okuthiwa ngeyama-African Languages - iziLimi zaBantu. Akusikhona eMelika lapha noma eNgilandi, kwelika-Queen Victoria, sikwelabantu - kwelethu leNdabuko - lapho kumele sikhulume izilimi zethu zokuzalwa ngoba asiqoqi amaphuzu. Yilezi ziNdlu zombili okufanale zibe yisibonelo esizweni sonke saseNingizimu Afrika ngokuthi izilimi zabantu zithathelwe phezulu futhi zikwazi ukusetshenziswa ngokulinganayo kuyo yonke iNingizimu Afrika jikelele. Uma kungeqale thina kule Ndlu, kuyoba yishwa ezweni lakithi ukuthi lokhu obabamkhulu abakulwela kungasenzeki ngenxa yokuba ngamavaka kwethu.
Kulezi zinhlelo eziqhubekayo futhi esizibonayo emphakathini, njengokwakhiwa kwemitapoyolwazi - yize noma kukhona ongqeqe abakwazi ukweba kulezo zindawo futhi ongeke Ngqongqoshe wakwazi ukuba neso lokufinyelela khona ukuze ubone ukuthi kuqhubeka kahle yini. Ngangikhalile ngokuthi imvama ahlupha kakhulu emadolobheni, lapho uthola ukuthi kunesikole esisodwa samabanga aphezulu kanye nezimbili zamabanga aphansi, bese uthi uma udlulela ngaphandle emakhaya uthole ukuthi akukho nesisodwa.
Imvamisa ukusuka emakhaya uya emadolobheni kucishe kulinganiselwe kumakhilomitha angama-40 nama-50, ngeke-ke uthi ingane yesikole ingakwazi ukuphuma ntambama iphuthume kuleyo ndawo. Yizo zonke izinto lezi okufanele zibhekwe ukuze kubonakale ukuthi omasipala bahlinzekani, iMinyango ezifundazweni zonke zosishiyagalolunye yenzani ukubhekelela izindawo zasemakhaya.
Akukho okunye esingekwenze ukuze siseseke lesi Sabiwomali ukuze sikwazi ukufeza izidingo ezikhona. Labo okuthiwa yiBhodi leziLimi zase-Afrika kufanele ubabhincisele nxanye ukuze baphumelelise zonke lezi zilimi zikhulunywe yonke indawo ngisho nasemigaqweni emikhulu yalapha eNtshonalanga Kapa, silukhume nje olwaseKoloni, sithi 'Molo.' Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Chairperson of this august House, hon Minister and your Deputy, hon members of this House, officials from the Department of Arts and Culture, when we speak about art we refer to the art of a soloist, a person singing alone; and we are rich in our customs as Africa. We are rich in our cultures; in singing traditional music, and that is why others refer to South Africa as a diverse nation.
I heard the Deputy Minister saying that there is something that you are trying to do with the faculties of African Languages at the universities. This is not America or England - Queen Victoria's- we are in Africa, our native land, where we have to speak our mother tongue, because we are not trying to score points. Both these Houses need to set an example for the whole country by recognising African languages and ensuring they are used equally in rest of South Africa. If we were not to set an example in this House, it would be very unfortunate for our country and all that our ancestors fought for would not come to pass, because of our cowardice.
There are ongoing programmes that we see in the communities, such as the building of libraries - even though there are clever people who steal from those places, which the Minister is unable to visit to see if they are progressing well. I have raised my concern that this is common in urban areas, where you find that there is one high school and two primary schools, and when you go to rural areas you do not find any schools at all.
Normally the distance from urban to rural areas is approximately 40-50 km, so you cannot expect a child to finish school and rush to that place. These are all matters that need to be looked at so that we can see what the municipalities are delivering, and what the departments in all nine provinces are doing in serving the rural areas.
We will do everything in our power to support this Budget Vote so that we can accomplish all that is needed. The Pan South African Language Board, PanSALB, must work hard so that all these languages can be spoken everywhere, even in the big streets of the Western Cape - we can speak the language from the Cape, and say "Molo" [Hello]. Thank you.]