Reclaiming our pride and dignity as South Africans

Heritage Day recognises and celebrates the cultural wealth of our nation. We celebrate the day by remembering the cultural heritage of the many cultures that make up the population of our beautiful South Africa.

Heritage Day is a time to appreciate the many aspects of our cultures, customs and traditions. It is the time when we display them, when we appreciate them and we celebrate and share our cultures and traditions with others.

Heritage is a source of identity and unity for our nation. It makes us who we are.

Heritage shapes us, it moulds us, it gives us a sense of belonging.

It is the inheritance passed down from generation to generation, it links the present to the past and it finds expression in dress, rituals, food, music, art and language.

I was born in Kwazakhele right here in Nelson Mandela Bay in 1977.

I never let my humble beginnings define my trajectory or my goals, but I always made sure that it defined my willingness to serve and create a better tomorrow for our youth.

I grew up in a Christian Xhosa home, and these religious and cultural teachings remain with me to this day

— they define the person

I am, they are a source of pride for me.

The social cohesion we seek in this country means we must be mindful of the legacy of our past.

We come from a history of prejudice and exclusion, and since democracy we have worked to transform the heritage landscape of our country. Building a truly nonracial society means being sensitive to the lived experiences of all this country’s people.

We come from a past where the government denigrated us and tried to make us ashamed of our cultures, our traditions, our languages and our very appearances.

We must never allow a government to do this again.

Today it is incumbent on each of us to share our culture and traditions with those who may not ever have been exposed to them; in so doing, we can teach each other, rather than break each other down. We can do so only through respect. I cannot expect your respect, if I do not in turn show respect to you.

We will recover from the devastation of Covid-19 and rebuild our lives and our economy.

We will continue to uphold the rights of all our people to practise their cultures, to speak their languages and practise their traditions.

We will continue to support every effort to preserve our common heritage, as well as those of individual communities.

As much as we celebrate our customs and traditions on this day, let us also appreciate that in practising our cultures freely and openly, and in speaking our native languages, we are reclaiming not just our heritage, but our pride and our dignity as South Africans.

Happy Heritage Day!