| We, who live in
the cradle of humanity, are one people
This week
we celebrated two important landmarks. On Monday, September 23, we marked
Proudly South African day. The following day, Tuesday, September 24, we
went on holiday to observe National Heritage Day. It is good that these
days followed one on the other, because they are related to each other.
On National Heritage Day, each one of us as South Africans
should be able to say that we are Proudly South African. This must be
so because our heritage, which recognises both our individuality and diversity,
which we honour with a national holiday, is exactly the base that makes
it possible for all of us to be proudly South African.
Our National Motto, carried on our unique national Coat
of Arms makes the same statement - diverse people come together!
The two national occasions in which we were involved
this week, Proudly South African Day and National Heritage Day, also communicate
the important message that we are one people, regardless of race, colour
and historical origin. Together we are both South African and African.
This we must understand, that the celebration of our
heritage is also about our collective identity as a people. When we say
that we are proudly South African, this must be because we recognise that
we have a common heritage, that we have a joint responsibility to nurture
and promote all our languages, cultures and religions, and that we share
a common destiny.
Correctly, on National Heritage Day we drew attention
to and celebrated our national symbols. Specifically, these were the National
Anthem, the National Flag and the National Coat of Arms. There can be
no gainsaying the fact that the nation cannot be born until it unites
behind common national symbols.
On this occasion, it was neither possible nor necessary
to present the other national symbols that represent the new South Africa
of which we are, and should be, proud. I refer here to the new National
Orders that have already been announced.
These are:
- the Order of Mapungubwe;
- the Order of the Baobab; and,
- the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo.
The first of these new Orders recognises excellence. It celebrates what
our people achieved in Mapungubwe in the early centuries of the second
millennium, AD. Among other things, this kingdom produced great works
of art and traded with countries as far afield as India and China.
The second of these Orders recognises service to the
people beyond the call of duty. It is symbolised by the baobab tree partly
because it is indigenous to Africa, because of its durability, and because
of its multiple uses in traditional African society as a provider of many
needs.
The third Order salutes those in the rest of the world
who have acted in the spirit of international and human solidarity to
assist us to achieve our goals as a people, both before and after our
liberation.
It is named after Oliver Tambo to honour the contribution
he made to build the global movement against apartheid, to mobilise the
peoples of the world to commit themselves to our national objective to
end apartheid and build a better life for our people, and to ensure that
free South Africa works among the nations to promote democracy, non-racialism,
non-sexism, global prosperity and world peace.
The government is working on new, additional National
Orders to ensure that we have all the necessary symbols that will help
both to identify us as a new united and diverse nation and pay tribute
to those of our people who will make it possible for us to say that we
are Proudly South African.
During the World Summit for Sustainable Development,
we had occasion to take the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr
Kofi Annan, to the Sterkfontein Caves. As we all know, this area was declared
a World Heritage Site because the fossils found here indicate that this
place, in our country, is the Cradle of Humanity. From here people spread
to the rest of the world, evolving into different races, colours and cultures.
By taking the UN Secretary General to the Cradle of
Humanity we sought to emphasise a number of points. One of these was that
by convening in Johannesburg for the WSSD, the peoples of the world were
returning to their historic place of origin and should therefore be inspired
by a common spirit of human solidarity.
We also sought to communicate the message that humanity
itself had emerged and prospered because of a correct relationship between
the people and the planet. The fact that the WSSD was held at the Cradle
of Humanity therefore highlighted the need for the Summit to restore the
balance between human activity and environmental protection.
The Cradle of Humanity is both part of our national
heritage and the heritage of all humanity. We cannot but be proud that
as a country we are this Cradle of Humanity, a fact that is confirmed
by new discoveries about the evolution of the human species.
A recent report says: "Some of the earliest traces
of our oldest ancestors -from whom all people in the world are descended
- have been found in a rock shelter in a remote part of northern Maputaland.
Remains dating back more than 150,000 years are believed to be the oldest
known evidence of homosapiens, or anatomically modern humans.
"In 1940, a local resident believed that the sandy
residue on the (Border) Cave floor was guano and therefore used as fertiliser.
He dug a hole in which he found a number of human cranial and limb bone
fragments. These were sent to Professor Raymond Dart, the renowned Wits
University palaeontologist, who realised their antiquity.
"Subsequent excavations yielded incredibly rich
material. The latest investigation was led by South African archaeologist
Peter Beaumont, and produced the largely complete skeleton of a four to
six-month old infant buried in a shallow grave.
"Remains of at least five homosapiens individuals
have also been discovered. Their dating and study has led researchers,
including Beaumont, to conclude that the formative processes in the physical
and cultural evolution of modern humans took place on the game-rich savannahs
of sub-equatorial Africa."
Our country is therefore in the unique position that
it is both the Cradle of Humanity and is home to the great variety of
people of various colours and races who evolved out of the original homo
sapiens that originated in our country. This too is part of the heritage
of which we should be proud.
But it also poses the challenge to us to create the
kind of society that respects the fact that, indeed, we belong to a common
humanity. We, above everybody else, should understand the importance and
necessity of building a non-racial society. Otherwise our claim to be
the Cradle of Humanity would have little meaning except as an historical
fact.
Earlier this year we laid to rest the remains of Sarah
Bartmann almost two centuries after she died in Paris. We cannot speak
of our national heritage without speaking also about our painful past,
as exemplified, for instance, by the life of Sarah Bartmann.
The return and solemn burial of her remains made an
important statement about what we intend to do about ourselves as a people.
Her return made the statement that we are determined to address the negative
elements of our heritage to the best of our ability. Specifically, we
demonstrated that we are committed to the recognition of and respect for
the identity of the Khoisan people.
This followed on the permanent tribute we paid to these
fellow South Africans by using the /Xam language in the motto in our national
Coat of Arms. Some of the ancestral lands of the Khoisan have also been
returned to them both to correct a historic injustice and to begin the
process that must enable them to reassert their identity.
During the burial of Sarah Bartmann the Khoisan people
determined the interment procedures that had to be followed, consistent
with their traditions. This made an important statement about our commitment
to the restoration of the dignity of the Khoisan. The first among our
people to come into contact with the European settlers of 1652, they were
the first victims of racism in our country.
The settlers despised them and described them as a sub-human
and repugnant curiosity. It was this same thinking that led to the export
of Sarah Bartmann to England and France, where she was displayed as an
abnormal animal who could never be considered human. It was the same thinking
that resulted in the Khoi and the San being given the derogatory names,
the Hottentots and Bushmen.
They were hunted and shot like wild animals. Others
died from disease, including the diseases of poverty. They were subjected
to a campaign of genocide. Their land was taken from them. Their languages
and cultures were severely undermined. They were denied both their identity
and their culture.
We cannot speak of a national heritage of which we are
proud if we do nothing to redress the grievous wrong that was done to
these fellow South Africans, part of the offspring that grew out of the
Cradle of Humanity. To redress that wrong means that all of us must work
very hard, together with the Khoisan people, to reassert their identity
and dignity.
Our country contains perhaps the largest and oldest
collection of rock paintings in the world. This is one of the reasons
that the Ukhahlamba/Drakensberg mountains have, like the Sterkfontein
Caves, been declared a World Heritage Site. This we owe to the Khoisan,
who produced the rock paintings that have now become the heritage of all
humanity. One of these paintings constitutes part of our national Coat
of Arms.
The World Summit for Sustainable Development drew attention
to and took specific decisions about the critical importance of the indigenous
people and their knowledge systems to the achievement of the goals of
sustainable development. This points the way forward for us as well, to
act in a determined manner to reach out to the knowledge systems of the
Khoisan and the rest of our people.
In this process we will reaffirm our respect for the
Khoisan, their knowledge systems, their culture and beliefs and their
languages. Among other things, this must also encourage us to work for
the development and the preservation of the languages of the Khoisan and
not allow any of them to become extinct, as has happened with the /Xam
language.
Our national heritage includes the World Heritage Cradle
of Humanity, which points to the common origin of all humanity and argues
against all systems and practices that discriminate against any human
being. Our national heritage includes the diverse racial and other groups
that make up our population. That heritage also includes the various contributions
that all these groups have made and are making to enable us to be Proudly
South African, united in our diversity around our national symbols.
To celebrate National Heritage Day does not only mean
that we have a day to sing and dance. It also means that we have a day
during which we should rededicate ourselves to the upliftment of all our
peoples, among other things to repair the terrible damage that was done
to all our people during the long years of colonialism and apartheid.
We cannot both be the Cradle of Humanity and tolerate any situation in
which any members of this humanity continue to be denied their identity
and dignity.
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