Thank you very much, Chair. We are honouring the heroes and heroines of our struggle, Ntate Lekota.
Many of these sites form part of the national liberation heritage route. We are also embarking on a programme to honour our national icons. These are the men and women who taught us never to abandon the cause of freedom. As we embark on this journey, I am reminded of words from a poem by the father of the Cuban nation, Jose Marti, titled I dream of cloisters of marble.
In this poem Marti dreams of a world where the sculptures of dead heroes of the Cuban revolution come alive. I quote:
I dream of cloisters of marble Where in silence divine Heroes are upright sleeping.
I speak to them at night At night by the light of soul!
Marti continues -
Then the eyes of stone are open, I see moving lips of stone, Beards of stone are trembling, They grip a sword of stone and cry.
He concludes the poem by saying -
The stone resounds, The white hands reach down to touch their belt, And then from high on the pedestal, The men of marble leap down!
Hon members, we will remember these heroes and heroines of our people by erecting monuments in their honour. We carve sculptures of stone and marble. We will also build museums that will tell the stories of their lives of bravery and courage to current and future generations.
As we preserve our liberation heritage, we must be mindful of those who seek to rewrite and distort our history. This they do in particular to wish away the existence of the liberation struggle, its values and its traditions. We must continue to remind them that the national liberation struggle is part of our country's collective memory, our rich history and heritage.
Without fear or favour we must reaffirm our liberation heritage as part of the broader cultural heritage of our country. This we must do as part of contributing to national healing, national dialogue, reconciliation, nation- building, social cohesion and an inclusive citizenship.
Equally, we must work hard to promote and defend our democratic Constitution, the Bill of Rights, our national symbols, the national flag and the national anthem, all of which are the result of our liberation struggle.
In this regard our department will in the coming months intensify its campaign to hoist the national flags in all public schools and every public building. We will also continue to encourage South Africans to hoist flags in their homes and in their places of work. Efforts will also be intensified to ensure that all South Africans know how to sing the nation anthem properly.
In conclusion, this will include publishing guidelines on how the national anthem should be sung and observed. Let us use our liberation heritage as a vehicle to make new and decisive advances as we build a South Africa of our dreams, a society that we can all be proud of, a society that takes pride in its history and heritage. Ke a leboga, Modulasetulo. [Thank you, Chairperson.] [Applause.]