Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Members
Artists present here today
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Government declared 2015 as the year of the Freedom Charter, a document upon which our Constitution is founded. One of the principles of the Freedom Charter is that “the Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened”.
As we enter the 3rd decade of democracy, the Department of Arts and Culture will ensure that the constitutional rights of all the people of KwaZulu-Natal are guaranteed to express their culture. We will also continue to deliver programmes that promote unity and social cohesion. Chairperson, May is Africa Month where we commemorate the establishment of the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU).
We want to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the forebears from across the continent for the struggle they waged against colonialism. In their honour, we must continue to promote unity and celebrate our diversity. This will go a long way towards creating a peaceful and prosperous continent.
We also want to add our voice in condemning the recent incidents of lawlessness, accompanied by violent attacks to non-South Africans. As government, we have gone all out to try and restore peace and stability in our communities and to bring a certain degree of comfort to the affected families. Such incidents have no place in our hard-fought democracy which was founded on the values of human dignity and human rights. The preamble of our Constitution states explicitly that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”.
We therefore deplore all forms of violent behavior which seeks to undermine these values. Government will do everything within the law to ensure the safety of everyone within our borders. Last month, we celebrated the beginning of the 3rd decade of freedom where we reiterated our commitment to accelerate radical economic transformation. To realise this goal, we have developed programmes that seek to unlock the economic potential of the arts and culture sector.
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