P Jordan: Indigenous languages literary classics launch

17 February 2009

Thank you programme director
Professor Rock Ralebipi-Simela, Chairperson of the National Council for Library
and Information Services
Professor Muxe Nkondo, Chairperson of the National Library of South Africa
Board
My esteemed colleagues, the Ministers and Deputy Ministers here present
Your Excellencies members of the diplomatic corps
Mr Tommy Matthee, President of the Library and Information Association of South
Africa
Ms Rachel More, President of the Library and Information Association of South
Africa
Mr John Tsebe, the National Librarian
Esteemed guests
Ladies and gentlemen

This evening’s event has had a very long and rather complicated
incubation.

Virtually from the day I assumed office as Minister of Arts and Culture in
June 2004, I entered into a rather fruitless dialogue with our South African
book publishing sector. As one who is keenly aware of the huge disparities in
our society and the gaping social deficit we inherited from centuries of
colonialism and decades of apartheid, I felt it was incumbent on me to spur our
publishing industry to undertake publishing in the indigenous African languages
in earnest.

Since the invention of writing, literature has been a critical vehicle for
storing information, for educating and socialising the young, and for
transmitting knowledge over time and space. For centuries the ability to read
and write was the monopoly of a few in all societies. Indeed, in many societies
it was against the law to impart these skills certain classes of people,
precisely as a means of trapping them in ignorance as a direct means of social
control.

Literacy came to most people in the world as a spin-off from the activities
of missionaries. Both of the aggressively proselytising religions of the world,
Christianity and Islam, base their teachings on a book, the Bible in the one
instance, and the Q’uran in the other. In a country like ours, literacy amongst
the African majority was directly related to missionary activity and the
earliest publishing houses were linked directly to historic mission schools
such as Lovedale, Marianhill, Tygerkloof and Morija in Lesotho.

Consequently, amongst most South Africans, the book is still largely
regarded as an educational tool. This has sadly been borne out by recent
research indicating that educational institutions remain the largest market for
all books published and distributed ion this country.

The Department of Arts and Culture is charged with the responsibility of
enhancing socio-economic development, promoting social cohesion,
nation-building and nurturing a new sense of national identity through the
development, preservation and promotion of South African arts and culture. What
we are doing this evening is rediscovering something that has been mislaid for
well nigh half a century: the capacity of exploring and expressing the broadest
human experiences, the profoundest human emotions, humour, wit and wisdom in
the indigenous African languages.

We are, in a sense, excavating a dimension of South African literature by
raising awareness of works of quality that have been produced over more than
one hundred and fifty years in the languages spoken in the majority of South
African homes.

The creative impulse inherent in all humans has found expression through
literature in every civilization and cultural community in our country. Among
the creative arts the one that has fascinated humans since time immemorial is
that of story-telling. The tale is the transmitter of human experience. Until
the invention of the art of writing, memory was the chief tool of the story
teller’s trade. It was through memory that she or he collected the material for
her or his wares. The written word permitted her or him to transport these
wares from one destination to another with greater ease.

Thousands of years have elapsed since the epic of Gilgamesh was inscribed on
clay tablets, but their inscription has rendered them virtually immortal. Many
a writer in the African languages of South Africa probably put pen to paper
envisioning such timelessness, but as we know and can relate from our own
experience, once a boo ceases to be available and easily accessible, it can
evaporate like dew on a hot day.

All of humanity is enriched by the retelling of an ancient tale preserved
over centuries because it says so much about the human condition. As a highly
self-conscious species, humanity has constantly striven to make tomorrow better
than yesterday and today. Through works of our imagination we have challenged
ourselves to live up to a number of ideals, interrogated our actions and
repeatedly re-examined our aspirations. The creative imagination has given us
heroes and heroines to emulate and villains to despise. Through the tales we
tell and the literature we write, we have dredged up from the depths of our
subconscious our profoundest fears and apprehensions in the shape of terrifying
fiends, demons and monsters. While at the same time we have lionized our
species for its capacity to overcome apparently insuperable odds and our
willingness to dream the impossible dream.

The orature and the literature that has been produced by the story-tellers
and writers in our indigenous languages are essentially no different from that
in any other in these respects. What is specific to it is the environment in
which the tales unfold. But they reveal and wrestle with the very same human
frailties, foibles, idiosyncrasies and human robustness found in other
literatures. If no one else wishes to preserve these works, we as South
Africans have a responsibility to our nation and humanity to ensure that they
survive into the future.

When my ministry finally abandoned hope of the commercial publishing sector
coming to the party, I charged the National Library with the responsibility of
exploring the possibilities of partnerships with old publishing houses to have
the classics in the African languages re-issued. Under the leadership of Mr
John Tsebe, we have arrived at the first station along what promises to be an
interesting and often exciting journey. We envisage that our school system will
very soon become aware of these republished classics and that many, otherwise
lost to memory, will once again be prescribed as part of the school syllabus.
The library system, otherwise starved for literature in the indigenous
languages, will now have this resource to draw on. I know it will take time,
but I long for the day when I can walk into Exclusive Books, or any other
bookstore in South Africa, and find shelf upon shelf of books in the African
languages.
There is a very ancient Chinese saying “a thousand mile journey commences with
a single step.”

This evening we are taking one small step to revive publishing in the
African languages, and we shall persevere along this road despite the numerous
obstacles we are bound to encounter. Yes, there will be those who wish to
discourage us by pointing to the financial strain this might place on our
National Library and the resources of the Department of Arts and Culture. But,
if we as a nation are in earnest about an African Renaissance, it must entail
the rediscovery of African genius, the revalorisation of African achievements
and the dissemination of the best works of the African imagination.

While this project, during these initial stages, will concentrate on
classics and works of proven literary worth, it is our fervent hope that its
impact will be to inspire emergent writers and even those who might have given
up owing to the discouraging environment of the past, to come forward with
their works.
To stimulate and spur on the culture of reading and writing, we have already
instituted a number of literary prizes. We have a prize for original work in
the indigenous languages.

Secondly, we l have a prize for new work in the indigenous languages, all
nine of them, which has encouraged many talented and gifted young writers out
there to set down their hopes, dreams and ideals in the languages they speak at
home.
Thirdly, we offer a prize for literature in translation, from any one official
South African language to another.

When I was appointed to this office, I assumed the responsibility of
actively promoting all the languages we speak in this country. Owing to
circumstances well-known to us all, the African languages have been
marginalised and literature in these languages is in large measure unavailable
in this country.
Today we are embarking on a new road: the commencement of a movement to enrich
and nurture a truly South African literary tradition, representative of all our
people and their spoken languages.

Thank You.

Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
17 February 2009