Programme Director
Professor Alice Walker, our distinguished guest
Mr Nkosinathi Biko of the Steve Biko Foundation
Mama Biko and members of the Biko family
Your Excellency, Ambassador Donald Gibbs
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
CEO of the State Theatre, Ms Xoliswa Ngema
Senior officials
Ladies and gentlemen
We meet here today as part of the 33rd anniversary commemoration of the murder of Steve Biko in detention as a result of the atrocities of the apartheid regime. He was a great leader, an astute intellectual and one whose vision continues to influence us today as we build this democracy on the principles of equality, of non-racialism and non-sexism.
It was Steve Biko and those of his generation who believed that South Africa could set an example for the whole world through its liberation. He said and I quote: “We have set out on a quest for a true humanity and somewhere on the distant horizon we can see the glittering prize.” He said that “in time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible – a more human face.”
It is in this context that we welcome Professor Alice Walker to our shores.
You have fought a long and hard struggle as an activist and as a writer, against injustice and in support of equality and human rights both in our country and all over the world.
You have fought for women’s emancipation and gender equality.
You have said unflinchingly that “All history is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world”.
You have given women from Africa and of African descent a powerful voice. You have encouraged us all to speak out and to speak up.
Your words and the voices of South Africans from our struggle ring so true. You have paved the road on which we all walk together to claim the glittering prize which Biko envisioned, which Charlotte Maxeke laid the foundations for at the turn of the last century, which Lilian Ngoyi and her sisters who led the 20 000 women who took part in the historic march against the pass laws could only dream of and fight for, and which Nelson Mandela proudly proclaimed in May 1994.
And still today you continue to be the champion of human rights and of women’s rights. For this we salute you and thank you for joining us today.
Steve Biko believed that we needed to rewrite our history and to describe in this history the heroes that formed the core of resistance in order to reveal our true participation and our true successes in nation-building. This would lead to the restoration of confidence and of a nation and people conscious of their own abilities and their power in making history.
Sadly, Steve Biko and many of his generation did not live to see the fruit of their labours. They paid the ultimate price for freedom. Yet the efforts of all those who contributed to the workers struggles of the 1970s and the student uprising of 1976 forever changed the course of history. From that moment on, the march to freedom gained momentum until the democratic elections of 1994.
Yet in every struggle we also need to acknowledge individual pain and suffering. While he was brutally slain for a cause greater than himself, his wife and children had to continue their lives without him and grow up without a husband and a father, without a community doctor and without a national leader who had galvanised millions to support the cause of freedom. We thank the Biko family for allowing him to play his part and for keeping his memory alive.
Biko’s legacy lives on through his words and through his ideas that led to a cultural renaissance. As the Department of Arts and Culture we are giving support to keep this legacy alive and we have embarked upon a national legacy project to honour his contribution.
We are supporting the design and construction of the Steve Biko Centre in Ginsburg in the Eastern Cape which will comprise of a museum, an archives centre, an audiovisual centre, a community media centre, performance spaces and a commemorative garden.
In this way we shall ensure that the memory and legacy of Steve Biko will live on. For his story is part of the South African story and also a component of the cultural and intellectual wealth that we in turn shall bequeath to future generations.
In this month of September we celebrate our Heritage. The focus of this year’s celebrations is: Celebrating 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup successes: our heritage. It is a call to all South African who pooled their efforts to making the World Cup a success on African soil to use their energies to make a country a better place and working towards social cohesion.
Let the achievements of this year be a source of inspiration, hope and strength when confronted with the challenges we face as a nation in our everyday lives. We shall be holding the main national event in Durban at the ABSA stadium on 24 September where the President will address us.
I would like to also commend the organisers of this Capital Arts Festival in celebrating our arts and culture and our heritage in this month. Let us continue to honour our living legends whose wisdom has contributed towards our social, political and cultural development and who continue to give meaning to our lives.
But let us also remember those who have left our midst. I was also deeply saddened to hear of the passing away of the world renown writer and critic, Professor Lewis Nkosi only two days ago. He was a prominent literary critic and a writer of note, the author of books such as Home and Exile and the Mating Birds whose work will continue to speak to us for generations to come. His words will inspire us to greater heights. The world has lost a great thinker and Lewis Nkosi will be deeply missed.
He would have wanted us to continue to debate and to discuss and to raise all the provocative issues of our times. In honour of his memory, in honour of Biko, let us use words to speak the truth about the world and about ourselves.
Professor Walker, once more we welcome you home to the African continent. We are honoured by your presence. Let this homecoming be the start of building stronger ties with us. For this is also your home away from home.
I thank you.
Source: Department of Arts and Culture
