Chairperson, all the previous speakers referred to nation-building and social cohesion, but the Department of Arts and Culture, DAC, is compelled to respond to Outcome 12, which speaks to an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.
This means that social cohesion and nation-building should be prioritised in all six programmes of the department. The DA insists that there are four crucial elements that will ensure that these concepts do not remain concepts but become a reality in all communities. They are delivery, reconciliation, redress and diversity. To build one nation and to enhance social cohesion, we would have to implement and internalise these four elements. I will elaborate on them as I proceed.
As far as cultural development is concerned, the Mzansi Golden Economy is one of the key focus areas of the DAC of the 2012-13 financial year. This is a response to Outcome 4, which addresses job creation and economic growth. It is a step in the right direction that this important project has been allocated R50 million in the current financial year, and R150 million in the 2014-15 financial year. However, the question is: How exactly does the department intend to roll out this project?
We need an answer because we must ensure that ordinary South Africans do benefit from this project. It has been reported that funds earmarked for the Investing in Culture projects are being redirected to the Mzansi Golden Economy and that Investing in Culture is being phased out as from this year.
The question is: What happens to the Investing in Culture projects that are still going on, if there are any? Despite the importance of the Mzansi Golden Economy, the strategic plan of the Department of Arts and Culture does not mention the project. This is totally unacceptable.
What are the project's short- and long-term targets? What are the timelines within which these targets are expected to be achieved? Without set targets and timelines, monitoring and evaluating the department's progress is impossible. Minister, corruption must not be allowed to destroy this project.
The Cultural Development programme could ensure that South African artists like Esther Mahlangu are acknowledged and respected in their own country. Esther is regarded as the queen of Ndebele painting.
A museum in Germany has a three-storey wall exhibition of her work. She designed the tailfin for a British Airways Boeing. Virgin Atlantic commissioned her to do five mural paintings for its music store on Times Square in New York.
The only piece of artwork that the South African National Gallery in South Africa owns of Mahlangu is a pair of beaded takkies, which was made as a response to a trip to Mexico. Her work is categorised by the Department of Trade and Industry as craft.
In his 2012 state of the nation address, the President announced the unveiling of museums, homes and graves of former ANC presidents and other national heroes, memorial sites, etc. The DA supports this initiative because it addresses the elements of redress and reconciliation, which are so important for nation-building and social cohesion.
We also applaud the government's decision in March this year to declare the Voortrekker Monument a national heritage site. Minister, I was going to urge you to go a step even further and connect the Voortrekker Monument and Freedom Park with a road or a gate that would reflect nation-building, not only symbolically but in a concrete fashion. You announced tonight, Minister, that that has been done; thank you very much.
Museums en erfenisgebiede kan werkskepping stimuleer as projekte noukeurig beplan en uitgevoer word. Dit is egter belangrik dat werkskepping in die informele sektor hierby kan baat. Oorsee en in dele van Afrika is die handel in kuns- en handwerkprodukte deur plaaslike inwoners buite hierdie sentrums 'n algemene gesig.
In Suid-Afrika is dit egter nog afwesig. So 'n inisiatief behoort ontwikkel en aangemoedig te word. In die platteland is kwaliteitmuseums 'n groot toeriste-aantreklikheid wat indirek ook werkskepping bevorder. 'n Voorvereiste is dat museums deur bekwame, opgeleide persone bestuur moet word.
Onlangse besoeke aan museums in die Noord-Kaapse platteland het egter getoon dat baie van die museums vir jare lank reeds oor geen opgeleide personeel beskik nie, en dat assistente wat as skoonmakers aangestel was, die bestuur moet behartig. Dit is onnodig om te s dat hierdie persone nie opgelei is om as gidse op te tree of om inligting aan besoekers te verskaf nie, en gevolglik neem besoeke af en dienslewering bly in die slag.
As deel van herstel en rekonsiliasie, ondersteun die DA die verandering van straat- en plekname. Ek weet my agb kollega, Nicolaas Van den Berg ... [Gelag.] ... het reeds daaroor gepraat, maar ek wil dit tog beklemtoon. Die voorvereiste is egter dat behoorlike prosesse en prosedures gevolg moet word, en dat die finansile implikasies deeglik in berekening gebring word. Openbare deelname is ook noodsaaklik en besluite wat geneem word, moet die diversiteit van alle Suid-Afikaners weerspiel.
Die element van dienslewering is relevant tot die regering se beplande uitbreiding van dienste by gemeenskapsbiblioteke, en my kollega, ek dink twee sprekers tevore ... (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Museums and heritage sites can stimulate job creation if projects are planned and executed accurately. However, it is important that job creation in the informal sector benefits from this. Overseas and in parts of Africa, trading in artworks or handcraft products by local inhabitants is a common sight outside these centres.
In South Africa this is still lacking. Such an initiative needs to developed and encouraged. In the rural areas high-quality museums are an important tourist attraction and indirectly also promote job creation. A prerequisite is that museums should be managed by efficient, trained people.
Recent visits to museums in the rural areas of the Northern Cape, however, revealed that many of the museums have for many years been without trained personnel, and that assistants who were appointed as cleaners have to take responsibility for management. Needless to say, these persons are not trained to act as guides or to provide information to visitors, and therefore visits decline and service delivery ceases.
As part of redress and reconciliation, the DA supports the changing of street as well as place names. I know my hon colleague, Nicolaas van den Berg ... [Laughter.] ... already spoke about this, but all the same I wish to emphasise it. The prerequisite is, however, that proper processes and procedures must be followed, and that the financial implications must be taken into consideration thoroughly. Public participation is also essential and the decisions taken should reflect the diversity of all South Africans.
The issue of service delivery is relevant to the government's planned expansion of services at community libraries, and my colleague, I think before the speaker before last ...]