eThekweni mines new gold
The municipality has robust arts and culture programmes in place to further promote social cohesion efforts in the city
DEEPLY immersed in history and culture, eThekwini Municipality is a unique city that has much to offer. Durban captures the best of the whole of Africa, boasting modern and world-class infrastructure and a melting pot of cultures.
While we are a thriving port city, which positively impacts on the local economy, we are a city that has much more to offer in the form of museums, libraries, music and the arts.
History should never be forgotten to ensure we always remember what transpired in the past, and endeavour to learn from it to guarantee we don’t repeat the same mistakes.
It goes without saying that arts and culture play an important role in society. This includes monuments and statues that beautifully encapsulate our country’s political history and cultural heritage, which has to be closely guarded and preserved for future generations.
The council recently approved the erection of statues of two Struggle stalwarts in the city, namely former ANC president Oliver Tambo and former president Nelson Mandela.
The two historical statues will honour and pay tribute to the fallen heroes and sons of the soil for the role they played in fighting the oppressive apartheid regime.
The project will also play a significant role in transforming the heritage landscape of the city, and will boost the local economy. Erecting these statues is an acknowledgement of their valuable contribution, which will be remembered for generations.
Furthermore, they will help educate the youth about our history and will positively impact on tourism. The procedures and costs of the project are still being finalised.
There has been some speculation that to fund this project, funds are being diverted from other service delivery projects. Let me be clear on this issue.
A full council sitting on February 22 tabled the adjustments budget for the 2017/18 financial year. One of the reasons for the adjustment budget is the relocation of budgets between votes to ensure operational efficiencies.
So while funding is diverted from one project to another, it is not done at the expense of that particular project. Projects get delayed for a number of reasons, including operational or contractual challenges that have to be addressed before the project can move ahead, and in the interim those funds can be utilised elsewhere. The municipality has had instances where projects have been delayed owing to public protests or court challenges. However, every endeavour is made to ensure that service delivery is not adversely affected.
An example of this is the Whetstone Library where the project started in the 2015/16 financial year, but supply chain management processes had to be reinitiated when the appointed contractor abandoned the site.
Funds for the replacement of air conditioning at the library have been further delayed owing to capacity constraints.
With regards to the Inanda Library air conditioner, there were unforeseen delays as a result of new architectural requisition and procurement processes.
The Mobeni Heights replacement of an old furnance was delayed owing to the bid adjudication committee’s recommendations that it be re-advertised so that it complied with the relevant Construction Industry Development Board grading.
The projects that have been mentioned will commence as soon as compliance and relevant capacity issues have been addressed.
These projects are detailed in the community services committee agenda to demonstrate that the council conducts its affairs in a transparent manner.
The readjustment of the Parks, Creation and Culture unit’s budget, in fact, seeks to ensure that various key programmes of the unit are implemented to achieve service delivery goals.
Work cannot stop because of delays, and funds must be utilised to holistically increase the experience of residents and visitors to our beautiful city through this important unit’s programmes.
The eThekwini Municipality has a number of projects under way to transform the heritage landscape of eThekwini while boosting the local economy.
Testament to this is the city being recognised as a city of Literature by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) – the only African city to accomplish this achievement.
This is part of Unesco’s Creative Cities Network, a prestigious network of cities drawn from 72 countries around the world.
Such cities are recognised for having creative industries at the centre of their development, which means boasting an extensive network of libraries, museums, placing emphasis on poetry and literature developed from within the city as well as focusing on art, galleries and music.
Custodians
The Unesco project is moving ahead with facilitation being spearheaded by officials from the Parks, Creation and Culture unit’s Library and Heritage, as the custodians of literature in the city and the International and Governance Relations unit as custodians of international relations programmes.
By being selected for this accolade, our city has been rewarded for being honest in the implementation of the national government Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) paper.
The national Department of Arts and Culture has embarked on a strategy to reposition the arts, culture and heritage sector as key players in the government’s programme of action for social cohesion, the creation of sustainable jobs and ensuring social and economic development.
The strategy considers the arts, culture and heritage sector as the “new gold” that has the potential to increase economic growth and create jobs in South Africa.
The purpose of the MGE is to make strategic investments to optimise the economic benefit of the arts in the country. By improving investment in key areas of the creative economy, it is anticipated that job creation and productivity will be enhanced.
We place the creative industry at the heart of local economic development and in the creation of employment for young people. The creative industries sector is linked to the responsibility of job creation, especially in the context of a thin industrial base.
Creative industries also play a pivotal role in nation building, as the previously repressed black majority continue to be the cultural minority. We have wonderful stories to tell, and we will ensure we provide a platform for our young people to make their voices heard.
The Municipality’s Local History Museum recently held the sixth annual Josiah Tshangana Gumede Lecture and Dialogue under the theme, “The role and impact of social media/technology and cyber-crime in our society”. This is done as part of our mandate to promote culture and heritage.
The lecture and dialogue provided an opportunity for participants to probe and debate how these seemingly important tools of communication can be used to undermine the efforts and successes of our democracy, and how this can be mitigated. The programme created awareness on the impact of social media, the pros and cons, and how communities can protect themselves from being victims of cyber-crime.
Social cohesion is a standing programme in the city.
Earlier this month, the city hosted a book launch for living legend Sugar Ray Xulu. A series of events were aimed at honouring Xulu for the valuable contribution he has made in uplifting football in the city.
The events included the launch of the book, Ngibuka Ngeso Lesihlabani, an autobiography of Xulu that was written by Sibusiso D Khumalo, as well as a friendly match between AmaZulu Football Club and Lamontville Golden Arrows.
The city also runs the One City One Book Programme to empower local authors and inculcate a reading culture among eThekwini residents.
Each year, the city selects one book to be read by residents that is widely available at all 93 municipal libraries.
These are just a few of the worthwhile projects being implemented in our city to continue to not only promote, but to prioritise, the development of arts and culture in eThekwini.