Thank you, Chairperson. Hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, we are at an important moment in our history as a nation where we have celebrated 15 years of democracy. We have also participated in the fourth national democratic elections, where our people came out in great numbers. This indeed was a show of commitment, a show of confidence in our new democracy.
Only last week we celebrated and marked the 54 years since the Congress of the People met in Kliptown when people from all walks of life gathered together to adopt the Freedom Charter. Today the Freedom Charter is part of our heritage and part of our political culture, and in our work we remain guided by the fundamental principles of the Freedom Charter such as "The people shall govern!" and also "The doors of learning and culture shall be opened to all!"
We have also just commemorated 33 years since that fateful day on 16 June when our young people stood up to fight for their rights and to fight for democracy. As we remember them, we have to ensure that what they fought for becomes part and parcel of this new democracy. We have already begun to intensify our work in promoting youth participation in programmes related to the advancement of our culture, heritage and the popularisation of our national symbols.
At the centre of our national effort is the transformation agenda to ensure that there shall be arts for all and that opportunities shall exist for every citizen to benefit from the knowledge and power that comes out of the arts, culture and heritage.
Our foremost mission in the Department of Arts and Culture is to build a cohesive society and ensure that we unite the nation. President Jacob Zuma has stated in his state of the nation address that we must do all we can to build cohesive, caring and sustainable communities.
We shall hold the first National Conference on Social Cohesion in KwaZulu- Natal later this year. The theme of this conference will be "Building a Caring Nation" and participation will come from civil society, our rural communities, faith-based organisations, traditional leaders, government and academics. We believe that we will be able to come out with a clear programme of action to guide and to lead our vision of a cohesive society and also a united nation.
We are also going to speed up the process of name changing because that has been a long-standing programme for this department. The SA Geographical Names Council is currently conducting national public hearings on the policy and procedures of standardising and also ensuring that we determine the place and focus of these changes.
We believe that almost all the provinces, except one province, have been finalised and we believe that in the coming financial year we will have finalised this process.
As part of our efforts to bring the arts to all our people we shall continue to ensure that community libraries are built in all our communities. The Department of Arts and Culture co-ordinates the implementation of the community libraries and recapitalisation programmes in partnership with various provinces.
In this financial year, we are planning to construct libraries in Khayelitsha, in the Western Cape; Mdantsane and Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape; in Mbazwana in KwaZulu-Natal; and Thulamela and Fetakgomo in Limpopo province. In the Northern Cape, we are rolling out container libraries to reach some of the most rural and remote areas.
This year the SA National Library for the Blind is 50 years old, and this means that we have succeeded in extending and making provision for Braille literature to community libraries. We are planning to reach out to more communities and ensure that this facility is accessible to all our communities, but we are also looking at some of the neighbouring countries that have also raised an interest in this facility.
A new state-of-the-art National Library of South Africa has been completed and was launched early this year by the former Minister. We shall also support the formation of book clubs at all community libraries to encourage the culture of reading and writing, particularly amongst our rural communities and our young people.
Through the National Library of South Africa we have reprinted 24 titles of classical African languages books that have been redistributed to libraries throughout the country. We are indeed committed to ensuring that our indigenous languages do not die. This is but one of some of the projects that we have put in place to ensure that we revive African literature and make it accessible to all South Africans through our community libraries.
We are also awarding language bursaries to 90 students this financial year to help build capacity in the language profession. Through this we will be able to prioritise students that are interested in studying African languages.
The Library Transformation Charter initiated by the National Council of Library and Information Services and the department will be finalised this year. The department will introduce a National Community Library and Information Services Bill to set the framework for norms and standards in the provision and regulation of community libraries and information services.
We have also expanded our investment in culture programmes to ensure that it becomes part and parcel of the fight or the war against poverty and also contributes to job creation through the EPWP.
Through the filming industry, we are also encouraging the development of local content and support the National Filming and Video Foundation. Funds have been allocated for training and growing the audience in townships and rural areas. Together with the foundation, we are looking at the best ways of setting up co-operatives in rural areas that will focus on bringing cinemas to our people and developing skills in areas related to film production.
I also want to mention, especially with regard to women, that we shall develop a gender focal unit in the department that will ensure that we mainstream gender and run meaningful women's empowerment programmes. We are also looking at the national Women's Month where we shall declare the graves of our great heroines and freedom fighters, Lilian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph, national monuments. In March next year we shall hold the first Dulcie September Memorial Lecture at the University of the Western Cape, dedicated to honouring her role and work in promoting human rights.
We shall continue also to look at more concrete ways of recognising the important contribution of women and the role they have played in our communities and in the liberation struggle.
In the department we have legacy projects that we are continuing to work on nationally. These include the Matola Raid Project which is in Matola, Mozambique, and also the O R Tambo Project which will be a statue of O R Tambo that will be built in Mbizana, in the O R Tambo District.
My predecessor announced the collaborative projects with the Dutch government where we are going to look at the roots of the Afrikaans language, including the contribution of the Malay people and the people of South Africa.
An international seminar and festival will take place during Heritage Month, in September, at UWC, where Dutch and South African academics will participate. The overall theme of this conference is "Spreek, Thetha, Talk." We believe that through this programme, we will be able to strengthen our solidarity and relationship with the Netherlands that was built during the hard years of struggle.
I want to report to this House that the Robben Island Council and the interim chief executive officer, CEO, resigned about a week after I became a new Minister, and I accepted their resignation. We have appointed an interim CEO whilst we have advertised for a new CEO and a new council in all the national newspapers. We will make sure that we speed up the appointment of the new CEO and council. In the meantime the interim CEO is Professor Henry Bredekamp and he is supported by senior officials of the department, Mr Mzukusi Madlavu, Mr Vusi Ndima, Mr Mike Rennie and Ms Sibongile Van Damme.
While the interim team will address the challenges that we have at the moment, I am confident that the new council will be in place in due course.
I am also happy to announce that the Integrated Conservation Management Plan of Robben Island Museum has been tabled and accepted at Unesco by delegates from our department and the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. It was tabled at the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee of Unesco in Seville, in Spain. I would like, therefore, to say to hon members this is indeed an important icon of our country; we cannot use it as a political football. I think the people of the world have confidence in us and I think South Africans must also begin to be patriotic and to unite - all of us - around this important heritage that ...
... sayishiyelwa ngabadala, ziinkonde ... [... has been left for us by our elders, the veterans...]
... and the ancestors of our struggle.
My predecessor, Dr Pallo Jordan, on heritage, announced South Africa's intention to ratify the 2003 Unesco Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as develop a national policy on living heritage. I am happy to report that we have concluded drafting the national policy and will also embark on public consultations in due course.
Heritage makes a significant yet unacknowledged contribution to the economic development of our country and job creation. We are working on a study on heritage and economic development and have completed a heritage skills audit to help us develop this sector.
I am happy to report that on 1 April 2009, we were able to declare Freedom Park a cultural institution. We have now appointed a new council for Freedom Park and we are looking forward to including this project in due course, in the next two years. We are working together with the Freedom Park council and the Department of Public Works on this aspect to ensure we conclude it in time. I was just going to congratulate Bafana Bafana, the Minister of Sport and the local organising committee for a job well done. You have done us proud! [Applause.]
Ndizani Bafana, ndizani! [Do us proud, Bafana Bafana!]