Jordan, MP, at the Crafts Expo
29 November 2006
Programme Director,
Mrs Zanele Mbeki,
Your Excellencies,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Ministers here present,
Your honour the Mayor of Tshwane,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all this evening. I am
particularly delighted to welcome our First Lady, Mrs Zanele Mbeki, who is
principal patron of this Crafts Market and has graciously agreed to lend us the
premises of the Presidency for the occasion.
Thank you ever so much Mrs Mbeki.
The crafts in South Africa have a very long history dating from the days
before machines were used to manufacture goods. The crafts are a niche market
in an area where the handmade object, invested with the individual skill,
dedication and eye of the crafter is highly valued. The crafts flourish where
the machine does not find it worthwhile to tread.
In a recent months the Deputy Minister, Ms Ntombazana Botha and I took the
decision that one of the flagship programmes of the Department of Arts and
Culture must be the crafts. In July during the Soccer World Cup in Germany we
were able to mount a small but very successful crafts market in Cologne. Today
we are unveiling our distinctly South African crafts brand, "Beautiful Things,"
which I am certain will leave a memorable mark on the international
marketplace.
Using traditional skills in craft production "Beautiful Things" will be
retailed through outlets in South Africa in the first instance but will soon
reach shops internationally.
South Africa has unique and innovative products with considerable product
diversity. I am certain, judging by what we have on display here that South
Africa's crafters will expand and extend the range of their products and will
do this country proud.
The exploitation of crafters is a well known scandal. Because crafters often
lack the skills to market and retail what they produce, unregulated middle
persons have bought cheap and sold dear to retailers and to buyers. Every penny
spent here will go to the crafters who produced them. Our brand, "Beautiful
Things," will continue this practice into the future so as to ensure the direct
producers receive value for the time, talent and effort they have invested in
their crafts.
Today's crafts market is a good example of what is possible provided the
interventions we make are well timed and appropriate. Its purpose is, in part,
to demonstrate that it is possible to adapt and develop the traditional skills
that communities already possess to integrate them more fully into the
mainstream of the economy.
The crafters whose work is on display here are drawn from every part of
South Africa. The high level of quality control, judicious purchasing and a
knowledge of the market performance of various products has ensured that what
we shall be selling here today can stand any test, aesthetic or otherwise, that
even the most critical eye could devise.
I now have the honour to invite our First Lady, Mrs Zanele Mbeki, to address
us.
Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
29 November 2006
Source: Department of Arts and Culture (http://www.dac.gov.za/)
