Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen and our honoured guests, we deliver our Budget Vote today, 33 years after the youth of our country stood up for their rights and helped pave the way for our new democracy. Many of them paid the ultimate price and gave their lives for our freedom.
In his Youth Day address President Jacob Zuma noted the importance of promoting youth participation in democratic processes, community and civic decision-making, and development. The President also indicated that our youth should participate in programmes to promote our culture and heritage, our Constitution and national symbols, and promote various other mechanisms that will cement pride in being a South African.
As part of a common national effort, the Department of Arts and Culture will do its part to ensure access to a rich and productive cultural life for our youth and all our people. This is why we embrace the idea that there shall be arts for all and that, in promoting arts, culture and heritage, we are deepening our democracy and helping to develop a people's culture.
Fifteen years into our democracy our task remains to ensure full equality of our people, to ensure equality between men and women, and to bridge the divide between rural and urban and between rich and poor.
A fundamental condition for the full realisation of the freedom of all our people is the national effort to bring about transformation to ensure that opportunities exist for those who have been marginalised to thrive. We are building a culture rooted in the realities of our people and aimed at instilling a deeper consciousness of what it means to be proudly South African.
As part of our effort to bring arts to all our people, we shall continue to ensure that community libraries are built in all our communities. [Applause.] The Department of Arts and Culture co-ordinates the implementation of the Community Libraries Recapitalisation Programme in partnership with provinces. A new state-of-the art National Library of South Africa building has been completed and opened. It covers 33 000 square metres and seats 1300 users - 10 times more than the old building. [Applause.]
Together with the National Library, we shall also support the formation of book clubs, particularly among our youth, to ensure that all our community libraries encourage a culture of reading.
The development of the Library Transformation Charter, initiated by the National Council for Library and Information Services and the department, will be finalised in 2009. The department will introduce a national community libraries Bill to set the framework for norms and standards in the provision and regulation of community libraries and information services.
With regard to the film industry, the department encourages the development of local content and supports the National Film and Video Foundation. Funds have been allocated to the foundation especially for training, skills development, growing the audience base in townships, and strengthening South Africa's international presence. The foundation is also funding animation features, which will produce interesting and innovative work. Together with the foundation, we are looking at the best ways of setting up co-operatives in rural areas that focus on bringing cinemas to our people and developing skills in areas related to film production. The department has also established partnerships with Canada, France and other countries to ensure co-operation in the film industry.
Through its Investing in Culture programme, the department aims to provide empowerment opportunities for unemployed people through skills development, training and job creation. To date, this programme has funded 394 projects, which have produced 10 938 job opportunities since 2005, with women constituting 43%, the youth 47% and people with disabilities 4% of the total number of people employed in the jobs that have been created. Seventy percent of these projects are based in our rural areas.
I would also like to mention a few other projects that have been supported by our Investing in Culture programme. We have the community ceramics and mosaics project in the Western Cape, the Disabead project in the Northern Cape for people with disabilities, the Nkapeseng beadwork project in the Free State, the Nyoni crafters in northern KwaZulu-Natal, and the Tingwazi art and craft project in Limpopo, to mention a few.
In the second phase of the Expanded Public Works Programme the aim is to produce 4 000 job opportunities. And, in addition to this, the focus will be to identify projects that can become viable co-operatives and small, medium and micro enterprises - SMMEs. We are partnering with the Department of Trade and Industry in registering co-operatives, in terms of an export readiness programme, and are participating in national and international exhibitions, including the Mzansi stores.
We are identifying niche markets that could become high-impact job creation areas for growth in the near future by supporting translating and editing job opportunities for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and we are also supporting job opportunities in the areas of digitisation of local content and the development of tour guides at South African heritage sites.
As we focus on sustaining arts and culture development, part of our focus will also be to promote the meaningful participation of women in the sector. With this in mind, we shall set up a gender focal unit in the department in order to mainstream gender and women's empowerment projects in the department and in all our institutions. In August this year we shall declare the graves of our great women leaders and veterans and freedom fighters - Lilian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph - national monuments. [Applause.]
Earlier this year, the department, under the leadership of former Deputy Minister Ntombazana Botha, participated in commemorations in France to pay tribute to the life and work of the late Dulcie September, who played an important role in our liberation struggle. In March next year we shall hold the first Dulcie September Memorial Lecture at the University of the Western Cape, dedicated to her role in promoting human rights. [Applause.]
We shall continue to look at more concrete ways of recognising the important contribution of women in our communities and in the liberation struggle through awards such as Mosadi wa Konokono [Woman of Substance], women's museums, women's monuments, and also in recognising Women's Day and other monuments that have to give recognition to the contribution of women in our history and in our struggle.
The Department of Arts and Culture supports the Fifa 2010 legacy projects through initiating and funding cultural histories of the host cities and of cities in the Southern African Development Community region. We are also looking at rural communities benefiting through the establishment of cinemas in rural areas as a legacy of public viewing areas established during the 2010 World Cup.
Ndikhumbula ndisakhula ezilalini - thina bantu ke bavela emaphandleni - ibhayiskopu yinto esasingayazi. Sasisithi ukuze sibone ibhayiskopu kufike uSunlight soap no-Omo bakwaLever Brothers, sibukele ke ibhayiskopu phaya kula nqwelo-mafutha yokuthutha inkulu, sijayive kube mnandi. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[I remember when I was still growing up in the village - for those of us who are from the rural areas - we did not know anything about cinema. We would only experience cinema when Lever Brothers brought their Sunlight soap and Omo advertising campaigns to the villages. We would watch in their big mobile truck and we would dance and have fun.]
In most of our villages, entertainment is still not accessible to the majority of our people. We think that we can assist in developing information-sharing and educational programmes through these facilities.
Through the National Library of South Africa we have reprinted 24 classics in African languages that have been distributed to libraries throughout the country, and we are now embarking on the second phase of this project.
Sifuna ukuba kuwo onke amathala eencwadi sibe noluncwadi lweelwimi zesintu. Sifuna ukuba nakumakhaya ethu sizithenge ezi ncwadi zeelwimi zesintu ukwenzela ukuba abantwana bethu bafunde ngembali yabo nangembali yelizwe labo, bawazi namasiko abo. [Kwaqhwatywa.](Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[We want to have indigenous literature in all libraries. We need to buy these indigenous language books so that even in our homes our children can read them and learn about their history and the history of their nation, and know their culture. [Applause.]]
We are also helping to establish the South African language practitioners' council by the end of this year. We are awarding language bursaries to 90 students this year to help build capacity in the language profession. [Applause.]
I now come to name changes. In our work to ensure that the names we give to places reflect our national identity, the SA Geographical Names Council is currently conducting national public hearings on the important policy for changing names. The outcome will determine the pace and focus of changes.
Kubalulekile ukuba sigqithe kule ndawo kwaye siwugqibe lo msebenzi, ukwenzela ukuba siqhube nomsebenzi obalulekileyo wokwakha isizwe. [It is essential that we go through this issue and complete this task in order for us to continue with the important task of building the nation.]
In his state of the nation address, President Zuma called on each and every one of us to build a more cohesive society. In the second half of this year, we shall hold the first national conference on social cohesion in KwaZulu-Natal. The theme of the conference is: Building a caring society. Participation is invited from civil society, government, academics, women, youth and rural communities to ensure that they participate in this conference. The conference will contribute towards developing a national strategic framework, leading to a concrete national plan of action.
With regard to heritage promotion, my predecessor announced in this House South Africa's intention to ratify the 2003 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as to develop a national policy on living heritage. I am pleased to report that we have concluded drafting the national policy and will soon embark on consulting South Africans on this important instrument. We encourage all South Africans to participate by providing us with input.
Heritage contributes significantly to economic development and job creation. The department will, therefore, be working with other departments on a study of heritage and economic development. This will help us in the sector to develop programmes and projects that will increase investment and economic activity in the heritage sector.
I have accepted the resignations of both the Robben Island council and the interim CEO of the Robben Island Museum. The call for nominations for a new council as well as an advertisement calling for applications for a full- time CEO have appeared in the national newspapers this past weekend. We will speed up the process of setting up the new council and finding a full- time CEO.
In the meantime, I have appointed an interim CEO, Prof Henry Bredekamp, after consultation with his council at Iziko Museum. We have ensured that he will be working with, and get full support from, the department. The interim CEO has already met and is already working with various stakeholders and a small team that will ensure the smooth running of the museum. I am optimistic that we have learnt from the past and that the measures that are being put in place will address the current challenges.
On 1 April 2009 Freedom Park was declared a cultural institution and a council was appointed in terms of the Cultural Institutions Act. We are working together with Freedom Park and the Department of Public Works to complete the construction of this important icon of our country.
The department is also undergoing renewed discussions with the Department of Defence about the transfer of the Castle of Good Hope to the Department of Arts and Culture. The department has done a due diligence study with regard to the future use of the castle, and has a framework in place for the future management of this important cultural and historical institution.
This year during Heritage Month I would like to single out the work that the National Heritage Council is doing. This work is important in ensuring that the area of heritage conservation and the development of the heritage transformation charter are speeded up. The National Heritage Council is also initiating activities to promote the value of ubuntu on Mandela Day, that is 18 July 2009.
This year's Heritage Day commemoration focuses on the contribution of the craft sector to our national culture, and the main celebration will happen in Limpopo. We shall work closely with the National Heritage Council and other stakeholders on this year's commemorations to ensure that we meet our goal of ensuring that our heritage, arts and crafts belong to all.
Through the National Arts Council we shall host the prestigious International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies' World Summit on Arts and Culture. This will be in September this year in Johannesburg. The theme of the summit is: Meeting of Cultures: Making Meaning through the Arts. This conference will also focus on the role of the arts in international and intercultural dialogue. Through our participation we shall also highlight our ongoing support for the Unesco Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
This year we have a number of legacy projects that we will be embarking on. In the past year, the Sarah Baartman Centre of Remembrance architecture competition in Hankey, in the Eastern Cape, was launched. The second phase will take place in August 2009, with the winning design expected by the first week of September 2009.
In January every year, together with our Mozambican counterparts, we commemorate the Matola Raid. You will recall that 16 South Africans and a Portuguese citizen were murdered on 30 January 1981 by the SA Defence Force. The Department of Arts and Culture is in the process of establishing a monument to honour the victims of this callous act. The Matola Municipality graciously donated land for the construction of the monument, which is located close to where the raid took place. The Department of Public Works has drafted the terms of reference for the architectural design process.
The Department of Arts and Culture will continue using symbolic events such as the Matola Raid and Cuito Cuanavale to remind the people of Southern Africa about our common history, heritage and shared destiny. We are working with the Mbizana Local Municipality in the O R Tambo District to commemorate the life and times of O R Tambo. We shall develop a statue of President O R Tambo, to be erected in the municipality so that we can share his achievements in bringing about our liberation with the younger generation. [Applause.]
We are also working on an Afrikaans project with the Western Cape. In the last Budget Vote speech, my predecessor announced a collaborative project with the Dutch on Afrikaans. An international seminar and festival will take place during Heritage Month this year and the conference theme will be: Spreek, Thetha, Talk. We are working with Dutch and Afrikaans-speaking academics on this programme. Thank you, Madam Chair. [Time expired.] [Applause.]