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This year, Heritage Day is commemorated under the theme, “Celebrating Our Living Heritage: Strengthening the Ties That Bind Us.” The theme reminds us that South Africa’s heritage is not only found in our monuments, languages, traditions, indigenous knowledge and cultural practices. It also lives in the values that shape how we treat one another and the society we build for future generations.
Central to these values is Ubuntu, the recognition of our shared humanity and our responsibility towards one another. Ubuntu reminds us that the dignity, safety and wellbeing of every person are inseparable from the wellbeing of the community.
This principle has particular significance as South Africa confronts gender-based violence and femicide, crime and other social ills that continue to cause immense suffering in families and communities. Violence against women and children is fundamentally incompatible with the values of Ubuntu, human dignity and mutual respect that should define our national heritage.
Communities also have a role to play. When communities, government, law enforcement, and civil society work together in partnership, they create a coordinated, multi-layered, and multipronged approach that not only responds to crime but also prevents it, thereby building stronger, more resilient neighbourhoods. Law-abiding South Africans far outnumber criminals and criminal syndicates, and this war can be won where there is united action, collaboration, and cooperation.
As South Africa marks 30 years since the adoption of the Constitution in 1996, Heritage Day also provides an opportunity to reflect on the constitutional values that underpin our democracy. Over the democratic period, Parliament has contributed to the protection of South Africa’s cultural and natural heritage through the passage of legislation such as the National Heritage Resources Act, the National Heritage Council Act and the Cultural Institutions Act. These laws provide an important legislative framework for preserving and promoting the country’s diverse heritage for present and future generations. Parliament will continue to strengthen its oversight of the implementation of heritage legislation and the use of allocated budgets, including measures aimed at protecting heritage sites and combating crime that threatens the country’s cultural and natural heritage.
But the heritage we leave behind will ultimately be measured by more than the monuments we preserve or the traditions we celebrate. It will also be measured by the kind of society we hand to the next generation. South Africa’s living heritage must therefore be one in which women and children can live without fear; communities stand together against crime and violence; diversity is respected; and every person’s inherent dignity is protected.
This Heritage Day, Parliament calls on all South Africans to strengthen the ties that bind us and to make Ubuntu not only a treasured part of our cultural heritage, but a principle that guides our everyday conduct and our shared responsibility for building a safer, more caring and united South Africa.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.
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