Honourable Chairperson of the NCOP
The Minister of Sport and Recreation, Minister Fikile
Mbalula
Deputy Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla
The Hounorable Chairperson of the Select Committee Delegates to the NCOP
MECs here present
Government officials
Ladies and gentlemen.
Introduction
Chairperson, we present our budget vote to this House during Youth Month.
The youth are an important stakeholder in our sector. For this reason we have identified a number of initiatives to support them.
These include bursaries and internships that we continue to provide. They also include our programmes of youth mass participation in the arts and bringing back arts education in schools.
In the coming months, we will issue a public call for proposals targeting young people to participate in our Public Art Programme, nation-wide.
Yesterday we donated musical equipment to the young people of Nyanga and Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape.
These programmes will be expanded to cover all provinces and to reach more young people.
Twenty years of Freedom and Democracy
Next year in 2014, our country will celebrate twenty years of freedom and democracy.
In preparation for this milestone, this week, we launched a mass mobilisation campaign, underpinned by build-up activities towards our twenty years of liberation.
We will work with provincial and local government to take the message and activities of the campaign to all corners of our country.
Our message is that; the South Africa of today is far better than it was before 1994; that as South Africans we have a shared future, articulated in the National Development Plan Vision for 2030, that we must all work towards.
Our build-up programme will include; the recognition of unsung heroes and the documenting of untold stories of our liberation struggle.
Plans are underway to distribute the preamble of our Constitution to all schools.
This will be followed by the distribution of the entire copy of the Constitution to schools.
By 2014, we will ensure that all public schools will be flying the national flag.
Social Cohesion and Nation Building
Chairperson, as part of implementing our Plan of Action on Social Cohesion, we have appointed Social Cohesion Advocates; to drive our social cohesion programmes.
Together with our Social Cohesion Advocates we will walk the length and breadth our country to roll out these programmes.
Of importance are our ongoing community conversations; offering an opportunity for South Africans to dialogue among themselves on the kind of society we seek to build.
We are delighted to report that in the Eastern Cape a total of eight community conversations were held.
In the Free Sate seven community conversations were held with representatives from all the five districts of the province.
In Limpopo two conversations were held, Gauteng nineteen, twenty six in Kwa-Zulu Natal, eight in Mpumalanga, seven in the Western Cape and North West and five in the Northern Cape.
More attention will be paid to provinces such as the Northern Cape, the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
Chairperson, in line with this commitment we will this Friday have discussions with representatives of the Khoi and San communities in the Northern Cape; amoug others to integrate their heritage as part of our country’s broader cultural heritage.
Heritage
Chairperson, we declared the year 2012 as the year of Heritage.
We are pleased to report that most of the heritage projects identified for implementation are either complete or are at an advanced stage of implementation.
Among these are opening of the //hapo museum at the Freedom Park in Gauteng last month.
In the Eastern Cape we completed the iconic Steve Biko Center in Ginsberg, and the first phase of the project to refurbish the homestead of former ANC President O.R Tambo in Mbizana.
Work is also under way to build a monument commemorating the Pondo Revolt.
Progress is being made towards building the Sarah Bartman memorial in the Eastern Cape.
We are also implementing the John Langalibelele Dube Legacy Project and the Ncome Museum project in KwaZulu-Natal.
A number of graves of our struggle heroes and heroines were upgraded and declared as heritage sites and upgraded, in various provinces.
Last year we also renamed the Bloemfontein Airport as Bram Fischer Airport in honour of one of our struggle icons, Bram Fischer.
The Cultural and creative industries
Chairperson we are succeeding in re-positioning the cultural and creative industries; opening up opportunities for South Africans to benefit fully from what this sector has to offer.
As part of implementing our Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy, in provinces such as the Free State work has begun to recruit and place arts facilitators in public schools.
Working with the Department of Basic Education, our goal is to place 3 000 arts facilitators in public schools throughout the country.
Plans to establish a Sourcing Company and a Touring Venture are at an advanced stage. These will benefit artists, including those in rural provinces, by ensuring market access for their products.
We have supported the establishment of a cultural precinct in Gugulethu in the Western Cape as part of the Ray Alexander Center.
Cultural Precincts have also been identified in eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal, Johannesburg in Gauteng and Mangaung in the Free State.
These precincts will be up-scaled to ensure that they feature year-long cultural performances.
We will continue to work with all provinces and local government to expose South Africans to opportunities that are available through the Mzansi Golden Economy.
Strengthening our Boards and Councils
Chairperson, we are proud of the progress we are making to stabilize the Boards and Councils of our institutions.
This work is particularly important since our institutions offer services to provinces and local communities.
In 2009, there were a number of institutions without fully functional Boards and Councils. To date, most of our institutions have fully constituted Councils and Boards.
We are working hard to constitute a fully functional council at the Pan South African Languages Board. This process is at an advanced stage and should be completed soon.
Although a lot of work still needs to be done, we are satisfied with improvements in the audit opinions of our institutions.
Conclusion
Let me conclude by thanking Members of the Select Committee for their rigorous oversight on the work we are doing.
I also thank MECs and Provincial Departments of Arts and Culture for working well with us as we together build this nation and promote social cohesion.
I also thank the Director General, the managers and staff of the Department of Arts and Culture and its institutions for their hard work.
It is my honor to present the 2013/14 Budget of the Department of Arts and Culture to the National Council of Provinces.
Thank you.
