Chairperson, our beloved Minister, hon members, it is the right of every South African citizen to touch these very valuable things, and I'm close enough to do that.
I dedicate my presentation to the living one whose last born child, the ninth, is 57 years old this year, 2010, and whose seventh child and only son will be 63 on 30 August, less than 4 months from today - myself! [Applause.] Her first, second and third offspring are also still alive.
She is my mother, with one eye blinded by old age and the other still useful, thanks to medical science. While we know little about her real age, we know much about her royal origins. She is the lioness.
N?i Ndou ya Ha-Mashamba, Kokwani ?a vhana vha Mhinga, ?i si na musidzana phende, muyakhuni a si na nnzi, a vhofha nga zwithu zwawe. Ahee n?ou! [Praise.]
I dedicate this speech on our Arts and Culture Budget Vote to my late father and to my three mothers - his wives, of whom only my blood mother is still alive. I am tshidawana, the cub, born of this ndau, the lion.
Muronga wa ma?i a mvula ane ari u fhalala na zwi?ula zwa lidza mifhululu. [Ululation.] [Praise.]
I am born of rain water, which, if spilt, incites even frogs to ululate.
Matare wa kumela, nndaa! Dada ?a mavhalavhala, khakhamela, tshiendeulu tsha mbudzi na kholomo ... [Praise.]
... the multicoloured dragon. I stand in this august democratic House, thanks to the Freedom Charter, the charter that charted and inspired our liberation struggle at the constituent assembly, the maternity ward in which our beloved baby, the democratic Constitution, was born on 8 May 1996. It is this Freedom Charter that guided our Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, in our united democratic nonracist and nonsexist South Africa, and I quote:
We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.
We congratulate the Minister and the department for a willingness to be baptised in the waters and vision of the Freedom Charter, the River Jordan of our liberation. It is at the brickyard of the Freedom Charter that we get precious materials for nation-building. It is at this tried and tested source that we get the vision that inspires all our programmes for socioeconomic, cultural, artistic and political cohesion. I quote:
Our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood ...
I add sisterhood - ... enjoying equal rights and opportunities. Only a democratic state ... can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief. And, therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and white together equals, countrymen ...
I add women -
... brothers and sisters, adopt this Freedom Charter. And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won.
We salute the department for its key strategic policies and plans up to 2012-13 to transform South Africa's arts, culture and heritage sectors in order to serve and service our rainbow of artistic and cultural variegations. The adoption and co-option of these artistic and cultural matters to promote economic growth; job creation; waging war against poverty; national reconciliation; nation-building; and social cohesion are highly commendable.
I come to our languages and their beautiful diversity.
Ri ya amba. Ha vulavula hina. Siyathetha. Rea bolela. Ons praat en gesels. We talk and speak. Suid-Afrika, ons tuiste! [South Africa, our home!] Afurika Tshipembe lashu. [Our country South Africa.] Afrika Borwa ya rena. [Our country South Africa.] Mzantsi Afrika, ikhaya lethu. [South Africa, our home.] This is the free South Africa. You take it or leave it; it is for all. My "khotsimunene" - that's from an official language - my younger father, Tshifularo Petros Farisani, does not regret even in his five-year-old grave that he travelled by bicycle from Alexandra township to Kliptown on 26 June 1955 for the launch of the Freedom Charter by the authentic, real, genuine, people-orientated and progressive congress of the people.
He used to say to me: Nwananga, he?o ?uvha zwo vha zwi zwihulu. Ndo bva nga lukanyakanya nda dovha hafhu nda vhuya ngalwo, ndi tshi khou itela u shela mulenzhe musi Freedom Charter i tshi rwelwa ?ari. Murathu wanga, ndo vha ndi hone nga tsha vhukoma. [My child, that day was hectic. I left home by bicycle and came back by it so that I could participate in the launch of the Freedom Charter. My brother, I was there in person.]
We applaud the department and the Minister for accepting no easy and cheap solutions; for adopting no hollow, fix-it-all panaceas and shortcuts; for following the long walk to freedom, the Mandela route and the "Aluta continua!" route as they address the plight of the vulnerable; programmes for young people; community arts centres; cultural participation by our South African and African artists in the 2010 Fifa World Cup; matters of heritage; and legacy programmes. The cross-pollination between local cultural industries and their international counterparts is a welcome phenomenon.
An overview of the budget and programmes is highly encouraging, as is the cleaning and strengthening of administration; development and promotion of arts and culture in social development; enhancement of linguistic diversity; promotion of mutually beneficial partnerships and co-operations between South Africa and international artists; conservation and promotion of cultural heritage; and facilitation of full and open access to the archival, heraldic, library and information resources of our land.
In conclusion, we shall highlight the challenges that call for urgent attention and resolution: equality of languages in court, including the need for simultaneous rather that consecutive translation or interpretation; equality of languages in legislation or legislative processes; equality of languages in sport and the need to develop relevant terms; attending to entities or agencies of the department that are in troubled waters, functionally and financially; ensuring that our World Heritage Sites do not lose their status, either through dereliction, corruption or poor management; working with the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure enhanced protection of our intellectual property rights; taking our indigenous languages to the highest academic levels, including research; further promotion of the moral regeneration movement to strengthen the norms and values of our society and enhance the soul of the nation; focused attention on arts in our prisons, among people with disabilities and those with mental problems; and striving towards sustainable and unqualified financial reports by the Auditor-General for the Department of Arts and Culture and her entities.
Finally, we appreciate the Department of Arts and Culture's legislative programme for 2010. This, we believe, will address legislative lacunae, grey areas and weaknesses in the laws governing arts and culture in South Africa and in our relations with the rest of the world.
Another fascinating programme relates to the quickly evolving developments on issues of cultural diplomacy. I have confidence in my colleagues who will follow me. They will address more sharply and in finer detail the issues that I have just skimmed through. South Africa, our land!
Twende sote juu kwa nyumba ya baba, twende sote juu kwa nyumba ya baba! [Let us all go up there, to the Father's house.]
In Swahili, this means that this land is for everybody. I thank you. If I have some time left, I donate it to the Minister. [Laughter.] [Aplause.]