Hon Chairperson, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, first of all I want to thank hon members for their valuable contributions to this Budget Vote debate. We have noted many of their useful inputs and we will also take forward some of the concerns raised.
I want to agree with the chair of the portfolio committee that, indeed, through the arts and culture programme, we can take our children off the streets. There are a number of youth programmes - we have a special unit that focuses on youth. We have a special unit that focuses on children. Just a few weeks ago, in preparation for Africa Day, we held a very big project in which 400 children from different schools met at the Union Buildings and played soccer. They also put together a map of Africa in the form of a jigsaw puzzle, reflecting all the stadia and the countries of Africa. These are some of the areas in which we are involving our children, not only in the creative arts, but also in teaching them how to paint and how to play and work together socially.
We are also concerned about the rural areas, and, as you have heard, most of our programmes actually focus on our rural areas. I agree with the chairperson that traditional leaders have an important role to play in culture and traditions in our country. In this regard, we shall be working very closely with the House of Traditional Leaders and community leaders to ensure that we take them on board and that they assist us in rolling out our programmes.
The member from the DA, the hon Lotriet, raised a number of concerns around the Auditor-General's report. There are investigations that are going on in the department, and one of our senior managers has been suspended regarding some of these transgressions.
We are also working with the provinces around the slow spending of municipal budgets in the provinces. We shall be dealing with this matter in our Minmec with provinces. We are also getting special technical support to ensure that issues relating to procurement and tenders are properly addressed. We will be correcting problems in this area.
I did mention the fact that we have a special focus on the building of libraries, particularly community libraries, as well as on the maintenance of our museums and other national assets. I agree with the member that indeed we are concerned about some of our languages that are dying, isiNdebele in particular. We are looking into this issue as a matter of great urgency. The unit that is dealing with languages is focusing particularly on this area.
The hon member Ntshiqela from Cope talked about issues concerning people in the informal settlements. We shall pass the concern on to the relevant department.
Concerning this Vote, we agree with him that... abantwana bethu masibafundise ukusebenza ngomdongwe kuba kaloku xa sele bekhulile baya kuba naso isakhono sokuba ngabazobi, oko kukuthi ngamagcisa. Loo nto iya kusinceda kulaa nto ibithethwa ngusihlalo, yokuba sibasuse abantwana ezitalatweni nakwizinto ezingalunganga. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[... let us teach our children to work with clay because when they are older they will have the skill to become artists, which means they can be artisans. That will help us with regard to what has been mentioned by the chairperson, namely taking our children off the streets and away from undesirable behaviour.]
We are also encouraging women to continue with our traditional pottery production, beadwork and so on, because we believe that these are other areas that can help with job creation and income-generation.
I note the concerns from the IFP and the UDM, and I agree with them that the budget is a great constraint in the Ministry and in the work that we will be doing. But despite that concern, we will do our best to ensure that what we have, we spend and that it goes to the rightful beneficiaries amongst our people, particularly the rural people. We are also aware of the financial crisis that we are going through the world over. Therefore, that calls on all of us to share what little we have and to use it effectively and efficiently.
We will speed up the name-change process. As I reported, the committee is working on this already. It is important that we deal with some of the cruel dinosaurs in our history: the John Vorsters, the Verwoerds that we still have in our country that remind many of our people of the painful history that we have come from. [Applause.]
I also want to say to hon member Van der Walt that we cannot suddenly suffer from national amnesia. I think it is important that we remember where we come from so that we do not go back there. [Applause.] It is also important that our children know their history and that they know where we have come from.
If we were to say to Jewish people: Do not commemorate - or go back and remember - the Holocaust, it would be an insult to those people. We are saying, as South Africans, we remember where we come from and we remember who we are. We also evaluate the work that we have done ever since and we chart the way forward - where we want to go as a nation. I think we cannot forget. [Applause.]
Bakhona ke abanesazela, abadliwa ngumvandedwa. [There are those who have a guilty conscience and who are bothered by their conscience.]
There's a saying that the guilty are afraid. But I think that we must not be afraid. We must come and join the majority of the people of South Africa in remembering where we come from ... [Applause.] ... and also to celebrate our achievements and the beautiful future that this country has.
I also want to say to the members that raised the pain and suffering of our cultural workers, that as the Deputy Minister reported, we shall be having meetings with our musicians, with our artists, to address this huge problem. We are also going to engage the multinational companies that actually benefit from their sweat and their suffering.
We believe that our musicians and our artists must be treated with dignity and respect - in the same way that our musicians and artists are treated in other countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, Cuba and East Asia. Our artists also deserve the dignity and the rights that artists the world over enjoy. [Applause.]
Our artists have the right to decide what they want to produce and what they want to create, not business and not managers. They themselves must take control of their own creative energies and produce what they are inspired to do.
I would like to agree with hon Van der Walt, who referred to the words of the founding President of South Africa, President Mandela, that, yes, we must not treat Robben Island as a political football. I think it is important that we remember President Nelson Mandela and all those that spent time on Robben Island. They gave us a good example of what a patriot is.
I think we must not be partisan about this matter and use it to gain a few, cheap political points. [Applause.] Robben Island is a very important icon of our people and of the world. And, as I have said already, we have put in place processes to deal with and fix Robben Island. I am sure that we'll definitely succeed in dealing with the challenges that face Robben Island.
Regarding the World Cup, the Minister of Sport and Recreation and I have addressed the concerns that we have regarding the national anthem and the manner in which it was sung by Fifa and we are dealing with this problem as a matter of urgency.
Concerning the World Cup budget, Mama Tshivhase, we are in the process of employing a full-time project manager for our World Cup programme. We'll come back to the portfolio committee and present to you a full programme on what we are going to do, particularly in so far as ensuring that women and our rural communities also benefit from the legacy of the World Cup. [Applause.]
Before I sit down, I want to thank my predecessor Dr Pallo Jordan and his Deputy Minister, Ntombazana Botha. One of their great achievements is that they started this department from scratch and ensured that they laid a firm foundation and drafted policies that are now in place, which we now have to implement going forward.
One of their greatest successes was the first Nepad cultural project that was launched in January last year with the launch of the new library building for the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, Mali. This was the first of its kind and, hopefully, we shall have more follow-up projects that will traverse the African continent.
Let me also inform the House that in the area of international co-operation on cultural development, we are promoting the African Agenda as well as South-South relations.
Over 100 South African artists will take part in the Pan-African Arts Festival in Algiers in July 2009, and more than 200 will participate in the World Festival of Black Arts in Senegal, in December 2009. The South Africa- Nigeria 10th anniversary celebrations in October this year will showcase fashion designers and our film industry.
In conclusion, I want to say that through all these initiatives and our work in the arts, culture and heritage areas, we aim to create a country where opportunities exist for all our people to expand their imagination and to use their creativity to create a better life for all.
My immense gratitude, therefore, goes to the former Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan, as well as to his deputy, Ntombazana Botha, for laying the foundations for this new Ministry and department.
I also want to thank the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture, especially its chairperson the hon Tshenuwani Farisani, for their robust contribution to the work of the department. I think we have already had a taste this morning. [Applause.]
I also want to thank - even though we've only had one short month - Deputy Minister Paul Mashatile for his support and enthusiasm. [Applause.] I am sure he will bring in the youth, and bring in the vibrancy and economic contribution and experience that he has in this Ministry. We now continue to build from where our predecessors left off.
Finally, I want to thank our Director-General, Mr Themba Wakashe, the CEOs of all our institutions that are here with us and the department as a whole for the smooth day-to-day running of our operations.
Let me take this opportunity, hon members, to invite you to view our exhibition, which is out there in the courtyard, and to also invite members and our guests to lunch at the Artscape. Thank you, hon Chair. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.