News24 | Mashatile asks South Africans to participate in National Dialogue ‘to build nation they want’

Deputy President Paul Mashatile addresses a Heritage Day celebration in the Western Cape.

• Deputy President Paul Mashatile has urged South Africans to participate in the National Dialogue to build the nation they hope for.
• Mashatile, in his capacity as the acting president, was speaking at the official Heritage Day celebration in the Western Cape.
• He also used his address to speak against drug and alcohol abuse as well as crime and other sociatel challenges.

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has called on South Africans to use the National Dialogue to build the nation they hope for, one in which no one is left behind.

On Wednesday, Mashatile, the acting president, spoke at an official Heritage Day celebration at the Bridgeton Sports Grounds in Oudsthoorn, the Western Cape.

He told the gathering that even before the advent of democracy, South Africans have always relied on dialogue to resolve conflict and shape their future - using the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as an example.

Mashatile said the National Dialogue was an essential platform for meaningful and inclusive dialogue among all voices, regardless of age, location, race, class, or culture.

“As part of our efforts to come together as a nation, with the shared goal of mending the scars of the past and addressing the deeply ingrained social and economic difficulties that the country faces, we have initiated a National Dialogue that is open to all people.

“The National Dialogue is a citizen-led process and an opportunity for all South Africans to confront uncomfortable truths about our democracy and reimagine a shared future for South Africa, where no one is left behind.

“We urge everyone to engage in this process, because as South Africans with diverse lived experiences, we each have a vital role in building the nation we hope for.

“As we celebrate our heritage, may this moment serve as a time of activation; let it be an opportunity to reimagine our heritage institutions not as remnants of a past era, but as beacons of possibility in a changing and globalising world,” he added.

In his address, Mashatile also discussed the importance of museums and other historical institutions as vehicles for social change and the protection of the democratic principles of the Constitution.

He said museums and cultural institutions must address societal challenges and cater to people’s daily needs across racial and cultural divides.

READ | National Dialogue: Fresh hope for relationship with the public, says Ramaphosa

“Museums, monuments, and other heritage sites must become spaces of cultural diplomacy, inclusivity, intergenerational conversation, laboratories of creativity, and incubators of opportunities for our people, particularly the youth.

“We must position our heritage institutions to contribute to the government’s efforts to deal with pressing challenges of unemployment, social fragmentation, crime, and corruption.

“This can be achieved by empowering communities to challenge dominant narratives, providing secure spaces for dialogue, and preserving and reinterpreting marginalised histories.”

Mashatile used the opportunity to speak against the scourge of drugs, alcohol abuse, crime and corruption and called on not only the government and families but also communities, NGOs and businesses to fight drugs and substance abuse, especially among the youth.

He said:

Mashatile called for unity in fighting racism, tribalism, gender-based violence, femicide and other anomalies that he said hindered the country’s progress.

He said South Africans must embrace the radical perspective shift in museums and called for their decolonisation to Africanise them.

“… This task demands unity of purpose and collective action from all of us as a nation to construct a country that upholds human dignity and civil liberties, free from racism, sexism and various forms of discrimination.

“We must take deliberate steps to fast-track transformational imperatives and address the urgent need to restore the dignity of the African people whose cultural heritage practices were disrupted and destroyed by colonialism and, later, apartheid.

“Some of you present here can confirm that apartheid undermined African heritage by destroying community structures through forced removals, fragmenting families and ancestral lands, and establishing an inferior education system focused on Bantu education.

“It suppressed African cultures, enforced segregation, and promoted the derogatory use of the term ‘Bantu’ to dehumanise black Africans and erode their identity,” Mashatile added.