Okay, I am sorry. Chairperson, August was Women's Month, and although it is now a month later, the celebration of women as an anchor and a rock of our liberation struggle should continue all the time. We salute all the women who contributed to the liberation struggle and to those who have passed we say, "A luta continua [The struggle continues]! Amandla! [Power!]"
African weddings are characterised by singing, dancing, and women ululating as an expression of joy. The ululating is accompanied by poetry, where the bride and the groom are called by their clan name, and all their ancestors. Therefore, today is the day that reminds us of the African wedding and I feel like saying, Halala! Halala! Lilili! Lilili! Kwakuhle kwetfu! [Siswati expression of gratitude and happiness.]
Music, poetry and art have always been part of the African culture, and therefore I am honoured to be given the opportunity to acknowledge our living treasures who dedicated their lives to the liberation of the people of South Africa.
Colonialism and apartheid deliberately sought to negate our cultural heritage, to deny us our own sense of identity and continuity. For many centuries racism has been a defining feature of our society. During the colonial and apartheid time our museums and monuments reflected the experiences and political ideals of a minority, to the exclusion of others.
The racist system sought to destroy everything that would give the indigenous majority a sense of identity and continuity. They had to contend with a historical reality that sought to deprive them of their cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation. It meant the virtual loss of intangibles such as cultural norms like communal life, human solidarity and ubuntu, which were the non-material expression of the material conditions of precolonial society.
Until recently, museums represented the kind of heritage which glorified mainly white and colonial history, and the small glimpse of black history largely painted a racist and stereotyped picture. Museums excluded and marginalised most of our people, and whenever cultural institutions did go to the trouble of recognising the existence and heritage of the indigenous populations, they were depicted as lesser human beings.
The coming of democracy has given us as South Africans the opportunity to ensure that our institutions reflect history in a way that respects the heritage of all our citizens. When our museums and monuments preserve the whole of our diverse heritage and when they are living to the public and interact with the changes of all around them, they strengthen our attachment to human rights, mutual respect and democracy.
We must all participate in the process of our continuing effort to give birth to a caring human society. One of those critical elements is our diverse and common sense of identity and continuity. The objective of a better life for all not only refers to the material, but also encompasses the spiritual, and the intangible.
Cultural heritage does not end at museums and monuments, but includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. Although fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalisation.
The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself, but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next. In the field of literature, music and art there are many who have earned themselves the title of "living treasure", people who through the apartheid years responded to the denial and distortion of their heritage with their own affirmation by celebrating their heritage outside of the sphere of the country's museums and monuments.
Women have always been on the receiving end of the apartheid regime, as husbands were taken to jail, and children fled into exile. The worst time was from 1959, when apartheid was at its worst, to 1989 when the apartheid regime started to collapse.
During this era a lot of talent emerged from the South African people, like Miriam Makeba. She was a woman dedicated to the liberation of her people and had a "never say die" attitude. She received a lot of accolades from the international community. Her immense contribution reached a crescendo when she went to the UN and informed them about the unjust system of apartheid. Her songs and music appealed to Africa and the rest of the world because she saw that the liberation of Africa would mean a total defeat of the colonialists. The approach she took was beyond women's issues, which enabled her to get the respect of her peers and world leaders. The songs she sang touched the heart and soul of all Africans. A song that comes to mind is A Luta Continua, which speaks about the continuation of the struggle for liberation in the SADC countries.
Our living heritage consists of the practices, representation, expressions, knowledge, skills, instruments, objects and cultural spaces that our nation's communities and groups recognise as part of their cultural heritage.
As far as the building of social cohesion through heritage, arts and culture is concerned, the ANC Polokwane conference emphasised the need to accommodate diversity in our national heritage, and the need to restore the proud heritage located in South Africa and the continent at large as the cradle of humankind and early forms of human civilisation.
As I conclude, let me say that, as with any nation, South Africans will continue to have multiple identities based on class, gender, age, language, geographic location, religion and so on. In a national democratic society, such diversity should feed into an overarching national identity. In its own unique way, South Africa should emerge as a united African nation, adding to the diversity and identity of the continent and humanity at large.
We must, through heritage, affirm and acknowledge the relationship between those who were oppressed and heritage. This is especially of significance in the context of nation-building. As we seek to build a nation by integrating South African society across racial, language, ethnic and other barriers, we are also engaged in the process of developing those individual elements that distinguish these various communities from one another.
Thirteen years ago, in his Heritage Day address on Robben Island, our venerable ex-President Nelson Mandela said that in affirming a joint heritage we are reminded that today's unity is a triumph over yesterday's division and conflict a triumph that must have concrete content if it is to have real meaning. They must entrench the conditions in which each of us can participate in building our collective democratic future; speak our own language, have pride in our culture and our heritage.
I thank you.