Cape Town – A statue of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected President, will be mounted at two sites that are intrinsically linked with the political face of South Africa - the Union Buildings in Pretoria and at Parliament in Cape Town.
This was announced in Parliament by Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile on Thursday while tabling his department’s 2013/14 budget vote.
The statue has already been commissioned and will be erected in front of the Union Buildings, which were built 100 years ago.
“We will do a statue at the Union Buildings and one at Parliament because there is consensus,” said Mashatile, adding that the decision to erect the statues followed calls from MPs.
Build-up to 20 years of democracy
Mashatile also announced that South Africa would start a year-long campaign to celebrate 20 years of democratic governance which began in 1994 when Mandela became the first President of new democratic republic.
The festivities will culminate on 27 April 2014, a day forever etched in the history of the country, because it was the day on which all South Africans voted together in one election for the first time.
“Our build-up programme will allow us to highlight and celebrate our achievements; to make the point, once more, that South Africa is a better country than it was before our liberation,” Mashatile said.
The festivities will endeavour to promote the National Development Plan, Vision 2030, as drawn up by the National Planning Commission, and which defines South Africa’s long-term vision of eliminating poverty and reducing inequality by the year 2030.
Apart from the 100th anniversary of the Union Buildings, this year also marks the centenary of the proclamation of the Native Land Act. Cape Town’s Iziko Museum will host an exhibition, to be called Umhlaba 1913 to 2013.
The Arts and Culture Department is also collaborating with the Department of Rural Development to document the legacy of the Native Land Act.
One of the department’s biggest achievements was to help restore the dignity of South Africa’s indigenous people. The remains of Troi and Klaas Pienaar have been returned to South Africa from Austria.
The Department is also negotiating for the homecoming of the remains of Chief Dawid Stuurman, the Khoi chief who twice escaped from Robben Island, before being exiled to Australia where he died.
South Africa has identified sites in Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Lesotho for inclusion in a Liberation Heritage Route that will link “sites and individuals of significance to the South African struggle for liberation, throughout the Continent”.
Talks about building a monument at the place where Nelson Mandela received military training in 1962 have been held with the government of Ethiopia.
SA film on the rise
On the film industry, Mashatile said it contributed R3.5 billion annually to South Africa’s gross domestic product, and provided employment to more than 25 000 people.
The National Film and Video Foundation is being restructured into a National Film Commission. A Film Fund was also being established.
As South Africa prepares for the introduction of digital television, plans were being made “on how the sector will develop content for television,” Mashatile said.
A task team was looking at how the entire television sector could increase local television content.
Another team has also been appointed to investigate the music industry and instructed to report back to Mashatile in three months’ time on piracy, the collection and distribution of royalties, and social security for artists.
A statutory book council was also being formed for a sector that employs 17 000 people.
On cultural diplomacy, Minister Mashatile said South Africa was in the second year of implementing the South African French Seasons. More than 800 South African artists will go to France later this year to take part in events in more than 100 cities. – SAnews.gov.za
