On 24 September South Africans across the nation will celebrate Heritage Day, created to celebrate the diversity of beliefs, traditions and cultures.
“When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation,” said late former President Nelson Mandela when he started Heritage Day in 1996.
In 2008 the National Heritage Council endorsed Heritage Day to also become known as Braai Day during which South Africans celebrate their common roots by having a braai.
According to the website South African History Online the idea has made notable high profile converts, the most being that of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. In 2007 he was made the national spokesperson for Braai Day.
Archbishop Tutu was quoted, “We’re going to have this wonderful thing on the 24th of this month … when we all gather round one fire…It’s a fantastic thing, a very simple idea. Irrespective of your politics, of your culture, of your race, of your whatever, hierdie ding doen ons saam [this thing we do together] … just South Africans doing one thing together, and recognising that we are a fantastic nation”.
Seeing that the day has become so closely associated with a braai, people tend to forget what it is truly about. There are numerous heritage sites across Joburg that can be visited to celebrate the true reason of Heritage Day such as:
The Apartheid Museum enlightens the triumph over oppression and adversity of the human spirit. For 46 years the white National Party government oppressed more than 20 million people letting them live a life of abuse, humiliation and indignity. In 1994 this was changed when President Nelson Mandela started a democracy.
The museum takes you through the path that begins with segregation which is known to be the cornerstone of apartheid. It leads you through the history of apartheid all the way to the release of Nelson Mandela which led to negotiations of peace.
Aviation Museum of South Africa
The aim of the museum, founded in 1986, was to preserve the history of civil aviation in South Africa. The museum is based at the Old Transvaal Aviation Club and houses a collection of multiple airline artefacts such as documentation and memories from the bygone era, aircraft instruments, photographs, and timetables. Among its collection of aircraft are two Boeing 747s, a B747-200 and a B747-SP.
The injustices of South Africa’s past and how freedom was won and being protected now, can be observed at Constitutional Hill. This national heritage site has been witness to more than a century of South Africa’s history such as the Soweto uprising, the Anglo-Boer War, the building of South Africa’s Constitutional Court and the start of democracy.
Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum
The Museum is linked to the Sowetho uprising and aftermath that happened on 16 June 1976, when thousands of students protested against the Afrikaans language being their medium of instruction in schools in Soweto. Hector Pietrson and Hastings Ndlovu were shot dead by police during the uprising. The shooting sparked off days of unrest and hundreds of deaths.
It is known to be the largest gallery on the subcontinent with a larger collection than the South African National Art Gallery in Cape Town. There is currently more than 9 000 artworks in the gallery’s collection, 15 exhibition halls and sculpture gardens. The collection comprises paintings, new media, sculpture, prints, ceramics, photography digital works and installations. Artists include William Kentridge, Jane Alexander, Tracey Rose, Jackson Hlungwani and Robin Rhode. The gallery also has important holdings of Southern African traditional art and artefact.
