SA can dance to same tune

Of all South Africa’s public holidays, Heritage Day, which will be celebrated on Thursday, is probably the most ridiculed, up there with Reconciliation Day and Freedom Day.

The founders of the country’s constitution meant for the day to be a celebration of the country’s potpourri of cultures, allowing those that previously celebrated it as Shaka Day not to feel as though their reasons for observing this day have been taken away.

Therein lies the root of the ridicule that the day has inherited: it’s a compromise holiday for which a certain section of the population feels its value has been watered down so as not to offend those for whom the day meant nothing. No wonder, then, that the commercial sector has shamelessly christened the day National Braai Day.

Add to that the spectacle that the majority of South Africans use the day to brush off their traditional regalia that mostly hangs in their wardrobes for the whole year and only gets worn on 24 September to celebrate their cultural heritage. Heritage, by definition, refers to a positive quality or possession that has been passed on from previous generations to the next.

Something positive that has been passed down over generations must surely be worth celebrating every single day. But the phenomenon of people only dressing up on a single day and hoping that the nation feels proud of their heritage and culture only feeds into the commercial hype that removes the actual value and meaning that the constitution meant for the day to have.

The national coat of arms bears the expression “diverse people unite” (unity in diversity), which is an acknowledgement of the many different identities that make up this country. Economic hardships and derailed dreams all but ended Nelson Mandela’s rainbow nationalism and resentment has tended to grow with each failure of government to fulfil the hopes and dreams of poor South Africans.

The idea that, from the different cultural heritages that coexist in South Africa, a common one can be harnessed into existence should have continued to be espoused by all. With the strict provision that economic equality is also given the same focus and energy.

Heritage should be something celebrated so that it is no longer simply the adorning of cultural wear on 24 September that signifies pride in one’s cultural origins, but that twenty-six years into democracy all of South Africa’s people feel their roots have contributed to the forging of a common heritage. Is that Zulu, or Sotho, or Pedi, or Afrikaner should not be a question that gets asked every single year as though people dress up to be anthropological subjects on this day.

The president’s call for people to embrace South Africa’s Master KG’s internationally acclaimed contemporary song Jerusalema dance challenge will add to the ridicule that this day continues to suffer in certain circles, but it is a bold move on the government’s part to get South Africans talking and dancing to a common tune.

Jerusalema as a song probably means very little to a great many people in this very diverse country, but the fact that it has crossed over many cultural boundaries the world over and created a neutral challenge (with a rhythm) that cannot be classed as belonging to one group or the other, is the kind of starting point South Africa needs in forging a common heritage going forward.

Twenty-five years from now, a child born into this democracy should be able to point to elements of heritage that are common to all South Africans.

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