Message of support delivered by the Hon Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, MP, on the occasion of the 2015 Tshima Awards media launch and artists' briefing at Joe Matsila Lodge, Makhado Local Municipality
Programme director
MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Vho Nandi Ndalane;
Your Worship the Executive Mayor of Vhembe District Municipality; Cllr Vho Tshitereke Matibe;
Khosi vho Matsila;
Organisers of the Tshima Awards;
Chairperson of the National Lotteries Board, Vho Professor Alfred Nevhutanda;
Representative from Phalaphala fm;
Representative from the music industry;
Our artists;
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen
Ndi matsheloni
We are gathered here as our nation marks 21 years and the beginning of the third decade of Freedom and Democracy.
The month of May has been declared as Africa Month. This month marks an important initiative of using the Arts, Culture and Heritage sector to open up new ways towards self-understanding among South Africans and their fellows from around the continent.
The theme for Africa Month is We Are Africa – “Opening the doors of learning and culture to promote peace and friendship from Cape to Cairo”
Government condemns the violence against foreign nationals in the strongest possible terms. The attacks violate all the values that South Africa embodies, especially the respect for human life, human rights, human dignity and Ubuntu.
The attacks on foreign nationals misrepresent our democratic order. This is not who we are as a nation.
The founding father of our nation, President Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
These powerful and profound words augur well with what brought us here today – the Launch of the 2015 Tshivenda Music Awards (Tshima).
Language is very important and we all communicate to be understood. Language is a vehicle of culture and through a language one can learn the values of the people who speak it. Your experience can be expressed best in your home language.
It is for such reasons that educators stress the value of home language in a learner’s initial years at school. If you deny people their language, you are denying their very existence.
Artists live a life of perpetual struggle. From the days of the liberation struggle to the post-apartheid era, artists are always in the coal face of social movements.
Through their music, paintings, storytelling, they reflect the architecture of their society and thus inspire social change. They capture the painful rhythms, the aspirations, as well as the agonies and the ecstasies of their society.
Our beloved Madiba said “Artists reach areas far beyond the reach of politicians. Art, especially entertainment and music, is understood by everybody, and it lifts the spirits and the morale of those who hear it.”
History has shown us that in South Africa music has been the soundtrack of the struggle. When Johnny Clegg and Savuka sang Asimbonanga, they expressed the need that we all felt for the release of the late Dr Nelson Mandela from his long imprisonment.
When Brenda Fassie sang My Black President, we all knew that this was a dream that could be realised and we fought harder.
When Colbert Mukwevho sang Nne na Inwi, its message dispelled the notion that love music only resonates with English language.
Music is so powerful because it is a tool of communication. Regardless of language, people can dance to its rhythms, and share the joy of a piece of music. Music is in and of itself a language; a composition of universally shared notes that can be played by all instruments and all musicians.
The Department of Arts and Culture supports the Tshivenda Music Awards and encourage artists, song writers, composers and producers to continue to promote and preserve the Tshivenda language and culture through music.
In closing, I would like to say that the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) invites organizations, companies, and individuals to apply for the Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) open call for funding aimed at optimising the economic benefits of the arts in South Africa.
This strategic investment approach seeks to reposition the arts, culture and heritage sector as the key players in government’s programme of action towards creation of sustainable jobs, audience and skills development, social and economic development of the sector.
Ndo livhuwa.
