H Yawa on behalf of E Molewa: Address on unveiling of memorial stone in
Taung Dam Graves Project during Heritage Month

8 September 2007

Programme Director,
Honourable Minister Hendricks,
The Executive Mayor of Bophirima District Municipality, Concillor Kaone
Lobelo,
The Mayor of Greater Taung Local municipality, Councillor Boitumelo
Mahlangu,
Batlotlegi Dikgosi tsa rona,
The Kolong/Dikgageng Community,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
All protocol observed

May I on behalf of the Premier, Edna Molewa, and the Kolong/Dikgageng people
and their fellow citizens in the North West province, welcome our Honourable
Minister Lindiwe Hendricks with open arms. I am tasked to deliver Premier's
message, which due to other official engagements she unfortunately couldn't be
here today to share this historic moment with us.

Premier's message reads thus: "Let me welcome all of you, and as early as
now, thank the Minister and our national government for the sensitivity with
which they have handled the issue of the graves of the Taung Dam valley, a
matter which has led to our gathering here today."

It is a matter of historical record that the construction of the Taung Dam
was completed in 1993 under the then Bophuthatswana government. It is also a
matter of public record that the indigenous people and original inhabitants of
the area were either insufficiently or not at all consulted about the project
and its implications for them. Those were the days of the physical
brutalisation and socio-economic and political disempowerment of the African
people of South Africa.

When the democratic government of the country came into power in 1994, one
of the first things it did was to pass legislation which respects the rights of
people to their original land. It also created mechanisms to address any
resultant claims. In line with our Constitution, our government also passed
legislation to protect the culture of the various ethnic and language groups in
the country.

I say all of this because we are gathered here today, from a cultural point
of view, to pay our respects to the departed upon who lies the Taung Dam. From
a legal point of view we are reaffirming the right of the Kolong/Dikgageng
people to lay claim to their ancestral land and, in turn, respect the results
of the land claims process. Government's responsibility in this regard is to
lend a sympathetic ear and correct any injustice suffered by the
Kolong/Dikgageng people. Our presence here today - with the Minister in
attendance - is a practical statement of government's commitment to redressing
any injustice previously meted out to the Kolong/Dikgageng people.

We are here today following a long consultative process involving a variety
of stakeholders and roleplayers. In that sense, however inadequately, we have
sought to reassert the humanity and the importance of the Kolong/Dikgageng
people. The democracy for which you fought for before 1994, and that you have
supported ever since, begins with our commitment, as government, to be led by
you, and to respond to your interests and needs.

It is because of that that we have Ward Committees and Community Development
Workers. It is because of that that we have multipurpose community centres. It
is because of that that we speak of Batho Pele. It is because of that that we
hold Izimbizo/Makgotla. It is because of that that you have councillors and we
respect our traditional leaders.

It is because of that sacrosanct culture of consultation that we are here
today, and we appreciate the constructive role you and your leaders have played
in it.

Ladies and gentlemen, in African culture the dead are never dead because
while they may no longer be with us physically they live on in spirit. We are
therefore here today to reaffirm the defiant words of the Senegalese poet,
Birago Diop, in his poem, 'Spirits.' when he says: "The dead are not down in
the earth, they are in the trembling of the trees, in the groaning of the
woods, in the water that runs, in the water that sleeps, they are in the hut,
and they are in the crowd: The dead are not dead."

The memorial stone we are unveiling today is intended to keep the memory of
our ancestors alive even though they themselves may be physically dead. This
stone is a statement of the immortal connection between us and the people who
lie buried where this dam runs.

It is our lullaby to them, asking them to rest in eternal peace and escape
the unhappiness they have, over the years, experienced as they twisted and
turned under the load of a dam illegitimately constructed on their resting
ground.

It is quite ironic, however, that while this dam was built without any due
regard for the sanctity of our graves, and these graves can now be considered a
life giver as they cradle a dam, which gives water - and therefore life - to
people. It is ironic that in disregarding our people's worth and dignity the
creators of this dam unintentionally showed how important our dead are by
giving them the task of carrying a life-giving dam.

While the dam was never constructed with the local people in mind, rest
assured that the democratic government of the country appreciates your being
close to it and the land upon which it is constructed, and therefore sees you
as important custodians of this important infrastructure. In that sense you are
life-givers to all your fellow South Africans relying upon this dam for their
water.

We meet here today so that you may carry out your cultural duty of making
your departed friends, families and loved ones rest with your blessings after
they were rudely disturbed in their sleep. You have, no doubt, for long been
visited by them in your dreams, and you have for long heard their plaintive
cries about their restless sleep. From today they shall continue talking to
you, but now in joyous tones as they, in the words of a poem, 'Echo,' by
Christina Rossetti, say: "Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live my very
life again though cold in death: Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
pulse for pulse, breath for breath: Speak low, lean low, as long ago, my love,
how long ago.

Let us then honour the stone which honour them, and let the water flowing
over their graves flow to the people of our country, and let our people be
beneficiaries of a better life as we in government continue our historic
mission of providing basic services for them. Please enjoy the water that your
ancestors indirectly left you as you access your free basic quota everyday that
the democratic government of our country ensured for you when it came into
power.

Let the water assist us as we, in line with our provincial Growth and
Development Strategy, support agriculture in our province, especially the small
farmers, including women. Let the water help us in ensuring that our people -
including our children - do not drink contaminated water from rivers and
streams. Let the water help us as we create clean environments to curb the
spread of disease. Let the water flow for sanitation both for hygienic purposes
and the basic dignity of our people. Let this dam and the stone we are
unveiling today be memorials of, and to, life, for they represent a source of
life - elsewhere, in a language not our own, appropriately called aqua vitae,
the water of life.

Let the water flow, let the departed rest, let the graves be peaceful, let
our people rejoice, let us celebrate this ceremony.

I thank you all

Issued by: North West Provincial Government
8 September 2007