National Heritage Council launches book
Will South Africans reach a point where they feel a common sense of belonging?
This was one of the issues discussed in a newly launched book by the National Heritage Council.
The book, Critical Conversation about Heritage, is divided into five themes, addressing matters of social cohesion, respect for cultural rights, heritage and development, reconciliation, and paying tribute to stalwarts of the liberation struggle.
“We are quite excited by the launch of this book; it opens our eyes and our minds, it reaffirms our DNA, it also commits ourselves to ensure that our children understand where they come from so that they can avoid the mistakes that have been made,” said Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who planned to introduce the book in schools throughout the province.
“I accept the challenge that we went to make this book available in each and every library in all 1 900 [libraries] in this particular province,” Lesufi said.
The book would also be translated and made digitally available to ensure that it can be used in Gauteng classrooms that use electronic devices.
CEO of the National Heritage Council, Sonwabile Mancotywa said people of today were experiencing a re-colonisation of the mind and South Africans needed to determine how to decolonise their heritage.
“Now the question we are facing is ‘where is Africa?’ In this multipolar world, the question is how do we reposition ourselves, hence matters of social memory become very important,” he said.
Mancotywa was speaking at the launch of the book at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Houghton, where he said the book “served as a platform to ask how do we decolonise our African heritage”.
The book further served to create a platform to stimulate debate about matters of heritage and national pride, he said.
“These are all reflections that one has made on contemporary issues in the popular media… and we challenge the existing thought about matters of national pride.”
The publication forms part of the National Heritage Council’s 10 year anniversary in the 20th year of the country’s democracy.
