Chair, the Deputy Minister and I have taken copious notes of hon members' contributions. Therefore we don't have to respond to the contributions of members individually.
I think we should take the opportunity to thank all of them, starting with the chairperson, hon Sunduza, and all the hon members of the committee. We thank you very much.
Let me also thank the real Cope. [Laughter.] I think they have said that there is a dispute about which one is real, so we may need a referendum. [Laughter.]
There are issues raised by members that we have noted. I think, hon member Lotriet, that there is a lot of concern about the funding of the performing arts. This is something that we will look into. The national museums are something that we will look into.
With regard to film production, although there is additional funding from National Treasury, I'm sure we can also do with more resources in that respect.
Social security for artists is something that we are working on. We didn't dwell much on it today, but we hope that, towards the end of this financial year, we will be able to announce some kind of programme or package that we have worked out, with the private sector, for artists. We are busy with that.
I take it that all the parties support our budget - am I correct? [Interjections.] Thank you very much.
There is also concern about the funding of youth development. I know that we may need to look into that again. Earlier, when I started, I did say that one of the things we were doing was to reprioritise and realign our programmes and budgets. So we will be looking at those areas that deserve more funding.
However, some of the areas that we are looking at now require new funding, so we will have discussions with National Treasury on that.
We will be meeting with the Lotto people as well. Our view is that up to now the funding of the arts sector by the Lotto has been very haphazard, and we need to streamline it properly. We could have lots of resources going to the performing arts, but at the moment it is not being handled properly. However, I'm happy to announce that the chairperson of the National Lotteries Board agrees with me, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. We should be able to sort that out.
With regard to the promotion of indigenous languages, as the Deputy Minister has said, the Bill is already with Cabinet. It will be tabled at the next session of Cabinet. It should be in Parliament by July so that we will be able to deal with it.
We will look not only at issues of multilingualism, but also at how government itself, and the national departments and agencies, are able to monitor, promote and ensure that there is access to government documents in all 11 official languages. That Bill is coming in July, and we hope that it will assist us to address the issue of promoting our languages.
With regard to promoting printing, the Deputy Minister has dealt with that. We are encouraging the writing and printing of books in all languages, particularly indigenous languages. So you are going to see more work in that regard.
With regard to social cohesion, we will have a summit next month where we are going to debate these issues. You will recall that the President, last year or in 2009, indicated that it is important for South Africans to debate who they are as South Africans, what our values are and what makes us South Africans. The concerns raised by other members about heckling at rallies, and so on, are part of the things that we need to address. The summit is meant to create an opportunity for dialogue.
However, we have decided that instead of just relying on summits we will start a campaign. The Deputy Minister keeps on reminding me of what the campaign is called, and I think it is "South African @ heart". The campaign will be taken all over the country, and will allow engagement with the media, young people, various sectors, professionals, etc. The idea is to ensure that by the time we reach the summit there should have been a lot of dialogue in the country about issues of national identity, ubuntu, and the values that make us South African. We therefore hope that everybody will engage in that campaign so that we strengthen our role of nation-building and social cohesion.
One of our major responsibilities is to ensure that we build up this beautiful country. We need to ensure that its people are united and that they understand each other's cultures. It should not just be about tolerance. We should not merely tolerate one another; we must understand one another. We must be able to live together as a nation. We will, therefore, have that summit and we hope Members of Parliament will attend, because sometimes we don't attend these functions. I'm inviting you already. [Interjections.] You must come to the summit. [Applause.]
We have also engaged religious leaders - we are also in touch with them. We are bringing in everybody, because all of us will agree that South Africa is a beautiful country. We led by example during 2010, and we have shown the world that we are truly proud of who we are, but let us close the little gaps that there are.
I want to assure hon members that we do call the people who sometimes heckle at rallies to order. It is not true that the leaders, particularly of the ANC, tolerate that kind of behaviour. None of our leaders, not even the President, tolerates that behaviour. However, it's important that we make South Africans understand that we should all work together to build this democracy, and we must continue to do so. Chairperson, let me not belabour by the point.
We have taken note of all the issues that members have raised and we appreciate your support. We will continue to work with you because the department, without your support, would not be able to do much. Even when we go and ask for a little more money from Treasury, you will back us and make sure that we can get something additional. However, we will do our best with what we have for now. We are not going to sit back and say, "Siyashota." [We don't have enough.] With what we have, we will do our best and make sure that the department also contributes to the big task of creating jobs in our country.
We can't leave it to other departments. In our little way - whether it's in the music industry or the film industry - we must also make a contribution. With the limited resources that we have, we will do so.
I can tell you that if we come with good plans, National Treasury will listen to us. We have plans and we are busy finalising the plans so that we can go and present them. We will highlight the fact that our plans will not only ensure social cohesion and nation-building, but will also ensure that there are skills in the arts sector and that we create jobs.
Let me take this opportunity to thank everybody who has come here today: our stakeholders, members of boards and chief executive officers. Thank you very much to everybody.
Ndi khou livhunwa. [I thank you.] Inkomu. [Thank you.] [Applause.]