Programme Director;
Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Paul Mashatile;
Chairperson of Freedom Park Council, Ms ES Mabusela;
The Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Park, Fana Jiyane;
Business Leaders;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.
I am thankful for this great opportunity to address the Freedom Park Corporate Nexus Cocktail today.
Conceptually and symbolically, the Freedom Park is of immeasurable historical value to the South African humanity to the extent that it is a statement of reconciliation, reconstruction and rebirth.
We know from scientific point of view that the earth was formed in a ball of burning gas 4.6 billion years ago in a universe that is about 14 billion years old.
Scientists inform us that our ancestors, called 'hominids', evolved on this earth, with the oldest such hominids found on the African continent. It is scientifically accepted fact that humanity evolved in the continent of Africa.
Among others Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia and of course, South Africa, have provided scientists with a wealth of findings confirming the fact that the African continent is the cradle of humanity.
About 1 000 hominid fossils spanning a time period of several millions years have been found in the Cradle of Humankind, right here in South Africa. We also know from scientific inquiries that the anatomically modern human being, Homo sapiens, come forth about 200 000 years ago.
Once again Ethiopia and South Africa yielded a wealth of data regarding this evolution of modern human beings. We also know that over the years humanity evolved cultural forms expressing their understanding of their place in the universe.
Among others in primitive times humanity evolved 'totemism' as a way of representing its collective identity and common consciousness.
This common consciousness developed into symbols such as flags and national anthems, reflecting social development as humanity experienced cultural elevation and complex forms of social organisation.
All physical artefacts and intangible attributes of a people are invariably preserved in one form or another in designated cultural institutions. In the case of South Africa Freedom Park is one such national and cultural establishment that preserves our collective memory as a nation.
Of equal importance in this regard is the fact we also have the Voortrekker Hoogte Monument, which also serves to preserve our history as a people. Recognising this fact, government has linked the two national heritage sites through a newly built road that will enable South Africans to travel between the two with ease.
For its side, Freedom Park opens space for us as a people to reflect on our past, the better to understand our future and how we forge a way ahead to that future. One of its many benefits as an institution preserving our cultural heritage is laying the basis for building a better future.
It does this by offering us the platform to reflect on our own survival as humanity. As such Freedom Park is truly a unique monument about the evolution of South Africa and to humanity in general. It helps to tell the story of human origin using scientific enquiry to shape a new consciousness about the origin and survival of humankind.
This consciousness is informed, also, by the discovery of hominid fossils in "The Cradle of Human Kind” in Maropeng which has demonstrated conclusively that almost every critical event in the emergence of the human species occurred first on the African continent. As such, freedom for our people means much more than freedom from pre-colonial, colonial and apartheid oppression.
It involves understanding freedom in both the finite and the infinite terms, marking freedom as the flight from wonder; which flight allows humanity the ability to understand both their natural and social worlds unencumbered by arbitrary constraints such as race, gender, sexuality, religion, class or ethnic origin.
This unique feature of Freedom Park distinguishes it from other memorial sites or monuments that seek to tell South Africa's history in a contemporary sense. The park seeks to address gaps, distortions and omissions from South African history in a new perspective that challenges orthodox narratives through a re-interpretation of the country's existing heritage sites.
It seeks to provide a holistic picture of South African Heritage from a vantage point of uninhibited exploration of ideas from the genesis of early life forms and tracing evolution of the natural and human worlds, including life forms and geological formations dating back to more than 3 billion years.
Committed to unencumbered inquiry, Freedom Park has from the beginning been conceptualised as a symbol for both freedom, in its reference to the struggles against colonialism and apartheid, and freedom based subjectively on the circularity of religion, belief and culture.
In this view, freedom of enquiry helps lift society from ignorance, backwardness and stagnation arming every person with the tools to grasp the laws that govern society and nature, thereby enabling them to harness such knowledge for their own benefit.
As leading communist thinker Moses Kotane explained about free inquiry: 'Proper education is a mirror in which man sees the world around him and learns to understand it - the right kind of education enables man to see what the world has been, what it is, and how it can change to suit him or his way of living.
Education can be and has been used to befuddle the minds of the common people. But education can also be used as an important instrument in the struggle for freedom and human progress. It is this kind of education which we need. We must learn geography to know the universe, that there are other countries besides our own and to know the people of different nationalities inhabiting these countries.
We must learn history to know and understand the story of man's development through the ages - the various forms of social organisation and the causes of the rise and fall of those forms of human relationships.'
Through the ages life has experienced five major extinctions. We are told that the last such extinction was about 65 million years ago. Today, scientists say we are in the midst of the sixth major extinction which is likely to be caused by human action born of the existing economic system and the greed that accompanies it.
Be that as it may, human consciousness has over the centuries enabled human survival over nature's erratic ways and their attendant negative effects on human life. Through its breath-taking garden of remembrance, statues and sculptures that keep the memory of heroes and heroines that lost their lives and limbs, the Freedom Park enables to reflect and envision a better future.
Myles Munroe may have been addressing himself to the essence of Freedom Park when, in his seminal book, 'The Burden of Freedom' when he said that:
'To the resilient human spirit buried under centuries of oppression and inhuman treatment screaming for freedom to express its true potential.
To the billions of individuals characterised as Third World people who are yet to fully participate in and benefit from vast resources and products of the industrial revolution.
To the renowned and unknown champions, both past and present, who gave their best and paid the ultimate price for the deliverance and freedom of people...'
Critically for all of us here today, for Freedom Park to carry out its colossal task of being the repository and summation of our cultural heritage in its manifold forms, whether natural or spiritual, it needs a sustained and purposeful material and other forms of support.
Ideally, such support should take varied forms, including marketing, promotional toolkits, new ideas by both public intellectuals and academics, and many more, so that it remains a proud South African entity in a true sense.
I am confident that in this vital task, we shall not fail as South Africans.
I thank you!
Remarks by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe on the occasion of the Freedom Park Corporate Nexus Cocktail
