BY
HON S MOODLEY MPL
Speaker,
The IFP is gravely concerned that this department has received such a meagre budget to fulfil its mandate. We urge the Premier and Treasury to look at increasing the budget so the Department may pursue its mandates effectively in the interest of the people of our province.
Again, the IFP would like to see an improvement in addressing the issues such as underspending which has been a trend for the past financial years including 2017/18. We applaud the appointment of Mr Ntokozo Chonco the Head of Department and we hope that this department will achieve a clean audit and to ensure that the budget allocation is fully spent.
Millions were squandered in the KZN Music House. We are aware that senior officials were implicated in forensic investigation into alleged fraud and corruption by the province’s Department of Arts and Culture (DoAC) within the KZN Music House. We would like to seek answers from the MEC on these matters including how many artists have been assisted by the KZN Music House? The MEC must ensure that she eradicates corruption in this department as we are aware that there is corruption involving music instruments. As IFP we presume and understand these music instruments that were given to some war rooms and other organisations and some of them are still sitting in a warehouse, as we as a Portfolio Committee we should be able to verify if it is real that they are still sitting idle in the warehouse.
We would like to raise our discomfort about the art centres being built by the department which end up becoming white elephant. The municipalities and all stakeholders must be involved during the planning stages of these centres. Also, community members must take responsibility to take care of these centres not to be vandalised. The department must ensure that the MOU’s are signed before we commence building these centres.
Art and culture have been shown to strengthen and encourage people individually and collectively, through leisure and artistic activities, enabling the construction of a more inclusive society.
But at a time when the cohesion of society is threatened by visible inequalities in wealth, housing, health and education, the arts provide a place where ideas can be debated, explored and developed and new propositions can be put forward. There is a strong inequality, so we must work with people who really need support, either because of their socioeconomic environment, geographical location among other factors that put them in a situation of vulnerability. “Art just like food is necessary for people, it is necessary for the spirit … art is the maximum expression of human beings.
The arts are intrinsically a social medium. They are both personal and public at the same time. We enjoy them as individuals and collectively, in cinemas, concert halls, theatres, museums, libraries and other places where people gather together. The arts, especially those funded by national and local government or the national lottery, play a key role in the public sphere.
It remains our task to remake out of our fractured past a more socially and economically inclusive society that is proud of all of its cultural expressions and a people that act together to enable the birth of a new culture and create new forms of engagement towards greater unity.
The challenge we face as a society is the process of building our nation out of a vast cultural and economic legacy of difference and inequality. Thus, the National Development Plan, NDP, is a response to five key dimensions, which are: inclusive social and economic development, sustainable investment and growth, decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods, a capable developmental state, and expanding opportunities.
Arts and culture open powerful spaces for debate about where a society finds itself and where it is going. Promoted effectively, the creative and cultural industries can contribute substantially to small business development, job creation, urban development and renewal.
We call for the promotion of the local content and music development. Indeed, local content determines the content in our country. We have been talking about this for a long time. It is time that we put in place mechanisms to ensure that our local artists are exposed through that local content.
Arts and culture forms part of the backbone of our rainbow nation through which the world gets to know and understand our country. South Africa is brimming with talented artists in all fields and we have bountiful cultural values to offer the world. It is highly unfortunate then that the dismal budget management of this department is a reflection of government’s outlook regarding South African artists who could play a vital role in establishing our country as a cultural capital in Africa and the world.
It is the duty of this department to nurture, guide and protect emerging artists and musicians to stimulate and support the arts in KwaZulu-Natal. The department must introduce local theatres and arts facilities, so as to promote our local creative industry, especially in previously disadvantaged communities. The department must institute a living wage and professionalise the industry to make sure that artists can live off the profits of their sales. We urge the department to do more in fighting music piracy.
The Bill of Rights in our Constitution affirms this through its declaration that everyone has the right of access to information. By having access to all the information necessary to make informed decisions, democracy can only be enriched, enhanced and entrenched in the minds of our citizens. To this end, libraries can serve as the means to mould the minds of our nation, as well as foster the possibilities and potential of a nation.
We can therefore describe a library as the key to mental and intellectual freedom! This department also has a responsibility to stimulate literacy in our province. Libraries are another major challenge in this department, specifically in rural provinces where there are many young and old people who were, and have been, equally disadvantaged in the past. They need to have access to resources if we are to improve the literacy rate and encourage reading in our communities.
We must instil the culture of learning in our society. People including young readers need to be provided with well-stocked libraries and have internet connection working at all times around the province and specifically in rural areas for children to be provided with books. They need to read, learn and be exposed to ideas, cultures and opinions. We desperately need more public libraries.
For this department to fulfil all its obligations, all vacant posts must be filled, because the purpose of creating these posts was obviously to enable the department to carry out its mandate expeditiously. It is also clear that there is still confusion about whether municipalities are responsible for arts and culture, or whether the responsibility lies in the hands of the provincial governments.
The promotion of all African languages must be equitable. African languages are still not equal to English and Afrikaans. There is need for all sectors of the economy and public institutions to embrace the formerly marginalised languages in line with the Constitution.
We must appreciate the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) for its initiative of promoting mother-tongue by launching the ’28 Days of Language Activism’ campaign, that aims to promote mother-tongue or indigenous languages in South Africa. This must also be done in schools.
The IFP supports any cultural events such as Reed Dance and Heritage events. Furthermore, there is a need to preserve culture. Heritage is identity of a nation, which must be preserved and protected for the sake of unity of nation while creation of awareness among the people about rich ancient archaeological remains and historic places across the province.
Bringing the communities closer to their heritage, sits in the heart of their protection, reviving the ancient arts and taking an absolute pride in living around the centres of their great archaeological history. We stress the importance of involving community members in conservation efforts, pressing need for the revitalization of crafts through community engagement, the development of viable management systems for sites, as well as the use of scaled-up versions of community engagement models based on syntheses from other successful projects. We urge the government officials and civil society activists to preserve and protect cultural and historical heritage sites of the state as a national and moral obligation.
Heritage sites reflect our history, culture and civilisation and it’s not the responsibility of the relevant government department alone but of everybody to preserve and protect them.
There is a lot of mismanagement and misuse, as well as a lack of understanding of what heritage site integrity is. This needs to be translated into policies and instruments and tools that we can use to preserve heritage and culture. It is essential to create awareness about the historic archaeological remains among the young generation.
We must also support cultural organisations like one of the most picturesque, tenacious and important community arts centres, Wushwini Pan African Centre for Arts Culture and Heritage which was launched in 2011, built from a vandalised school. The centre is providing capacity for building the community, especially youth and women. The structure was supported by KZN Department of Arts and Culture and Eager Artists, who are the resident artists at the centre. Such initiatives must be supported.
The IFP supports the Budget.
I thank you.
