W Jacobs: International Council of African Museums

4 October 2006

Members of the Diplomatic Corps
First Lady of the Western Cape, Ms Shabodien Rasool
Members of the Provincial legislature
President of AFRICOM, Cheldia Annabi
Executive Committee members of AFRICOM
President and executives of Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA)
Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of public entities and heritage managers
Esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen

At an occasion of great significance like this, it is quite fitting to quote
from President Mbeki's speech at the fundraising dinner for the Timbuktu
Project, held in Pretoria last year when he said, "We must contest the colonial
denial of our history and we must initiate our own conversations and dialogues
about our past. We need our own scholars to interpret the history of our
continent."

Ladies and gentlemen, if it is also true that a people, a country, a
continent and the world without its past and history has no future, then the
African renaissance has no future. The establishment of AFRICOM was indeed a
very important step in taking the African heritage into the mainstream, in line
with New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) ideals.

This is a very important platform that is bringing together top brains in
the cultural and heritage landscapes on our continent, to begin the process of
re-claiming and re-writing of our own heritage as part of the NEPAD agenda, and
for the African renaissance.

I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women of our
continent, in particular, for making this event a success and most importantly,
for gracing this occasion with their presence.

The Western Cape government is proud and indeed honoured to have been
selected to host the 2nd General Assembly and the conference of AFRICOM.

We value the participation of heritage practitioners of your calibre in this
conference greatly. As peoples of this province, we are particularly thrilled
that a conference of this immense importance is held in the Cultural Mecca of
South Africa, the Western Cape Province.

This gathering of great minds must be seized with challenges that our
continent is grappling with. At the political front, through the NEPAD goals,
African leaders are spearheading a process to develop a new vision that would
guarantee Africa's renewal. One of the main objectives of NEPAD is to halt the
marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process and to enhance its full
and beneficial integration into the global economy.

This important gathering speaks to the outcomes of the Africa's renewal
agenda that for broad and deep participation by all sectors of society, there
must be partnerships between and amongst African people. This 2nd Assembly of
AFRICOM demonstrates that Africa is really coming of age, and taking charge of
its own destiny.

Museums, in general, are institutions in the service of society available to
the public for research, communication, exhibiting, purposes of study and
education. Our museums should bear relationship with the past, left by our
ancestors and aim to protect our cultural heritage for future generations.

As the MEC of Cultural Affairs, it is one of my objectives to strive to
safeguard and preserve the diffusion of the Western Cape and South African
cultural heritage at most our museums to present our identity and diversity in
an ever-changing world.

In this regard South Africa still faces a daunting challenge of ensuring the
complete transformation of museums so that artefacts and exhibits do not depict
only the history of our colonial masters, but mirror the rich heritage of this
continent. You all have the will and the intellectual capacity to assist this
political agenda.

There was life in Africa before colonialisation, and however fragmented our
histories might be due to its subsequent destructions, our scholars have a
responsibility to put these pieces of the puzzle together for present and
future generations.

One of leading contemporary scholars on the Timbuktu Manuscripts, John
Hunwick notes that these documents demonstrates that "Many Africans could write
their languages long before European missionaries and colonialists came to
impose their own forms of writing upon them, and in fact replacing the Arabic
script and suppressing its usage in the case of such major languages as Hausa
and Swahili."

In South Africa our colonial masters have driven the languages of the Khoi
and San communities, the aborigines of the Western Cape, to almost extinction
following many centuries of cultural oppression and subjugation.

As a result of that systematic oppression, today only a handful can speak
the Nama and San languages; these are challenges I think this conference should
attempt to provide answers to and help South Africa manage the transformation
process better.

Ladies and gentlemen, the vision of the Pan African Parliament provides a
common platform for African people and their grassroots organisations to be
more involved in discussions and decision-making on the problems and challenges
facing our continent. The African parliament acts as a voice of the people of
Africa representing their opinions, their concerns and aspirations.

One of the committees of the African parliament is responsible for
education, culture, tourism and human resources. The purpose of this committee
is to assist the Pan African Parliament to promote policy development and the
preservation of culture. This confirms a protocol that will strengthen
continental solidarity and build a sense of common destiny among the peoples of
Africa.

Undoubtedly, as experts in the field of heritage and having covered quite
some ground during the six years of your existence as AFRICOM, you have a huge
contribution to make in realising some of the objectives of the Pan African
Parliament.

The Western Cape is in the process of reviewing its current legislation
applicable to museum services. The new legislation will address the cultural,
political and economic divide to ensure that our museums depict the history of
all our people to advance the strategic goal of building a non-racial South
Africa and a home for all.

In an attempt to give practical effect to the transformation agenda, we
piloted a scrapbook project and an oral history project, bringing previously
marginalised histories into our museums. We certainly look forward to the
outcomes of this conference and are able to take some lessons to accelerate our
own transformation agenda.

In conclusion, I want to quote from President Mbeki when he said, "Through
our collective actions, we are setting the tone of the new discourse and we are
asserting an African identity and sense of purpose, of place and history of the
great cities and states of our continent. We are asserting our right to tell
our own stories, about our glorious history, and we do this to honour our past
and claim our future."

I want to wish the new leadership of AFRICOM success in steering the ship to
the desired destination during their new term of office. There is a huge task
ahead of them and as government we will be there to lend a helping hand because
we ascribe to the goals of AFRICOM.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Sport and Cultural Affairs, Western Cape Provincial
Government
4 October 2006