Programme Director
The Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr. Joe Phaahla
The Director General of the Department of Arts and Culture, Mr Sibusiso Xaba
Chairpersons and heads of our institutions
The Chairperson of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Ms Helen Kerfoot
Delegates from the African Union
Our foreign guests
Representatives of Provincial government
Executive Mayors and other representatives of local government here present
Representatives of Political parties
Representatives of civil society formations
Representatives of various arts, culture and heritage institutions
Members of the media
Fellow South Africans.
I take this opportunity on behalf of the Department of Arts and Culture to welcome all of you to this ground-breaking workshop on the standardisation of geographical names. This workshop is a culmination of various public hearings on the process of names standardisation that we conducted throughout the country. Dear friends, this workshop is taking place in April, an important month in the history of our democratic nation.
This is the month of our freedom and democracy. It is a month which signifies the birth of our new nation; founded on the principles of unity, equality and dignity for all. This year we mark the 18th anniversary of our freedom and democracy under the theme: “Working together to build unity and prosperity for all”.
Guided by this theme we celebrate the progress we are making to build a South African society that is united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous. We are also renewing our commitment to the objective of building an inclusive and economically prosperous society. Part of the activities planned for this year’s Freedom Month include commemorative events to celebrate the lives of some of the fallen heroes and heroines of our struggle for national liberation.
These include Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, Thomas Nkobi, Martin Thembisile Chris Hani and many others who paid the supreme prize for us to enjoy freedom and democracy. This month we will also begin the process of repatriating the remains of Mr Klass Pineaar and his wife Mrs Trooi Pienaar, whose bodies were illegally removed from their graves and taken to Austria for “research” purposes.
We will do this repatriation as a symbolic gesture to the Khoi and San community, once more to restore their dignity and to reaffirm their status as equal citizens of a free South Africa. On Freedom Day, the 27th of April, a street parade has also been planned to show case and celebrate our country’s rich and diverse cultures. Represented in this parade will also be other countries from our Continent.
Also on Freedom Day, President Jacob Zuma will bestow Nation Orders to honor those men and women who have been of outstanding service to South Africa and indeed to all of humanity. This workshop today on the standardisation of geographical names is also convened within the context of Freedom Month.
We have convened this workshop to continue the process of national dialogue; a process that is central to our ability to define who we are as a nation and where we are going. This workshop is part of efforts to build a national consensus on the process of geographical names standardisation.
As we all know, it is because of dialogue, consensus and our ability to reach out to one another that we were able to achieve what is today proudly referred to as the “South African miracle”. It is because we were able to dialogue among ourselves and reach consensus that we succeeded in turning our backs as a nation on our unhappy past.
This was a past characterised by division, oppression, exclusion and domination of one by another. Through dialogue and consensus we ensured the triumph of justice over injustice, we brought hope in the place of despair, we substituted fear with mutual understanding and we began building a rainbow nation.
I trust that throughout our discussions at this workshop we will put the need for dialogue and consensus upper most in our minds. On this important occasion we wish to reiterate that; the process of names standardisation is not an attempt to obliterate the history of any section of our society. Rather it is a process that seeks to contribute towards building an inclusive society; rooted in the principles of equality, freedom and dignity for all.
Equally, we must collectively dispel the myth that funds set aside for the standardisation of geographical names is money wasted. We must continue to make the point that the standardisation of geographical names is an integral part of nation building, promoting social cohesion and national healing. From this workshop we must emerge with a national consensus that the standardisation of geographical names is about affirming our common heritage, our shared destiny, our common nationhood and identity.
We must spread the message that the standardisation of geographical names is a democratic process. It seeks to undo the wrongs of the past, thus pave the way towards a shared future. We must remind South Africans that the process of names standardisation is not new nor unique to our country. It started as early as 1939 with the National Place Names Committee of the then apartheid government.
What the ANC government has done is to democratize the process of names standardisation; allowing for greater public participation and local ownership of the process. We have also broadened the mandate of the then National Place Names Committee. Dear friends, the standardisation of geographical names is provided for by the United Nations Guidelines on the Standardisation of Geographical Names.
It is therefore fitting that today at this workshop we are joined by guests from other countries, from whom we will draw valuable lessons as we standardise our geographical names. We once more welcome our friends from other parts of the continent and the world. We look forward to your contribution to this workshop. As we engage in the process of geographical names standardisation, we do so fully aware that the South African nation is a product of many streams of history and cultures.
We are also alive to the reality that our struggle for national liberation has always been premised on the need to build a common and non-racial destiny for all South Africans, black and white. Our approach to the standardisation of geographical names acknowledges that the future of South Africa will be shaped by all those who had made it their home.
This vision of an inclusive South African nationhood is informed by that seminal document of our people, the Freedom Charter which declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it; black and white. This vision has also found expression in our democratic Constitution which states in its preamble that:
“We the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past. Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”.
Compatriots as we engage in discussions let us remind ourselves of the words of one of the founding fathers of our democratic nation, former President Nelson Mandela who said in 1994.
“The time for the healing of the wounds has come.
The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.
The time to build is upon us.”
Former President Mandela goes on to say;
“We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world”.
These words said at the time of the birth of our democratic nation, in 1994, must continue to guide us as we expand and deepen the gains of freedom and democracy.
Let this workshop mark yet another step we are taking as a nation to heal the wounds of the past.
Let this workshop strengthen efforts to bridge the chasm that divide us.
Let this workshop be another step we are taking to build a society where all will walk tall, assured of their right to human dignity, freedom and equality.
Let the dialogue begin!
Let us build a national consensus on the standardisation of geographical names.
Thank you.
