Be mindful of our true heritage

THERE are many ways to describe heritage. Ultimately, most definitions will arrive at the passing down of customs, beliefs, trad- itions or practices from one generation to the next. The diverse cultural heritage in South Afri- ca makes today, Heritage Day, a day to reflect as a people and celebrate our unity in diversity. Herit- age day must, however, not just be about passing on foods, languages and carrying cultural accoutre- ments on a special day. It should be a subject that occupies how we live at home, at work and while having fun. As things stand, we are passing on a negative heritage to future generations. If we are not care- ful, we might leave to future generations the deadly custom of killing political foes as is unfolding in KwaZulu-Natal, where being a local government councillor has literally become a job to die for. If we are not paying attention, we might allow a culture of corporate greed and personal enrich- ment by any means necessary to recreate many other KPMG-type organisations. We must be care- ful not to reproduce a future where gender vio- lence is normalised and women, young and old, fear walking the streets as much as they fear going home because of the expectation that they will be met with violence and even death. If this year’s Heritage Day must become mean- ingful, it must go beyond worrying about what we wear or eat – or whether calling it Braai Day is ap- propriate. We must dig deeper into ourselves. We must re- trace the footsteps of those who sought to create a nation from the diverse people we are, and ask our- selves what kind of nation they envisaged for us and future generations. If we do, we might find that they wished on us what we wish on our own des- cendants – a South Africa where fairness, justice and doing what is right is the norm.