Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier
Members of the Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Officials from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture
Comrades and friends
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is indeed an honour and privilege to be presenting to this house, the second budget of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture,
since the fifth successive re-election of the ANC by the people of the Northern Cape, to be the governing party in this province. Through this budget speech, we intend yet again to highlight the commitment of this department to deliver on the election manifesto promises we have made to our people as the ruling party. Ours is a commitment to move the Northern Cape forward by creating an environment which will make it possible to nurture social cohesion in our communities. It was through socially coherent communities that this country achieved democracy and it is our firm belief that through socially coherent communities, we shall build a prosperous, non-racial, non-sexist and equal society
Honourable Speaker,
This month has been declared Africa Month. It is during this month that we commemorate the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (the OAU) which was formed on the 25th May 1963, by 30 leaders, representing 32 independent African states. What is more significant about Africa Month, is that it is the month in which we celebrate Africa’s unity. I firmly believe that all good citizens of this province will agree with me, that it is disheartening that we enter this month, which is meant to embrace and celebrate our continent’s unity, on the backdrop of shameful events of the attacks on foreign African nationals, which recently occurred in communities across the country. Let me take this opportunity, on behalf of the Northern Cape provincial government, to add to the multitude of voices which strongly condemned these attacks on our fellow African brothers and sisters. South Africa has always been a multicultural society that welcomes and promotes interaction among people of different backgrounds. It is for this reason that as government, we believe that these attacks are instigated by elements bent on taking advantage of the vulnerabilities in the communities, to serve their political or criminal ends.
South Africans ought to be reminded that freedom would not have been achieved in this country had it not been for the invaluable support we received from our fellow Africans. Fellow Africans opened their borders, provided shelter for our exiles, shared their thin resources with our exiles, enabling them to receive education and military training during the dark days of apartheid. We owe it to our forbearers to stop the xenophobic attacks and find lasting solutions to help our fellow Africans to overcome the socio-economic challenges they are facing in their respective countries. We are Africa and we are one.
During Africa Month, we will feature various genres of the Arts, Culture and Heritage. In honour of Africa Month, we will be hosting a talk by Professor Abel Pienaar from the Faculty of African Indigenous Studies at the North West University, on African Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
The Africa Month festivities will give life to the AU 2063 vision of African Cultural renaissance, which aims to propel Africa's development and integration. This gift of a common ancestry and shared heritage is the fodder that will see us, as the African Continent, accelerating the restoration of our glory to become a true global industrial giant. I also stand before you today, upon the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) which was launched in December 1985.
Honourable Speaker, my second budget speech is presented to you in a spirit of gratitude and reflects the First Budget for Sport, Arts and Culture for the Medium Term Strategic Framework of 2015 to 2019. I am extremely delighted to deliver my budget speech to you against the backdrop of commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. The past month reminded us of the selfless sacrifices made by thousands of young people, women and human rights activists. It is through these sacrifices that we have a good story to tell.
Before we continue on the trend of good stories, allow me to reflect also on sad stories from our. At this time, we mourn the unfortunate, sudden and untimely death of an organic intellectual, community leader, former MK Combatant and NEC member, the former Minister of Public Service, Minister Collins Chabane, a brain of wisdom to mankind and true servant of the People. At the same time we saw the return of the remains of two icons, comrade J.B. Marks and Malume Moses Kotane, from Russia to the North West Province, in South Africa. We pay homage to our world renowned footballer Steve Kalamazoo Mokone, the Henyekane brothers, Joseph and recently Richard, who lost his life in a horrific car accident. Richard, the “Kimberley Express” as he was known, was a great loss to our province and country. We also lost John Lesiba “Shoes” Mosheou of the Class of 96 African Cup winner’s team.
Full speech [PDF]
