ARTICLE: DON’T FORGET “PLAN A”
2014-07-04
In an article that he wrote for Rapport last Sunday, Frans Cronje of the Institute for Race Relations quite rightly warned South Africans to plan for all eventualities.
In an article that he wrote for Rapport last Sunday, Frans Cronje of the Institute for Race Relations quite rightly warned South Africans to plan for all eventualities.
The central message of President Zuma’s second inaugural address is that, during the next five years, his new government will launch the “second phase of our transition from apartheid to a national democratic society.
According to media reports, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is getting ready to introduce indigenous language courts “in an attempt to speed up justice” and “make courts more accessible”.
A pilot project for indigenous language courts was run in 2009, but was stopped after an assessment by the Department. The Department stated last month that it was reopening the project.
According to the Department, the objective is to introduce and promote the use of indigenous languages in a few courts, then to expand to other courts.
The 21st of May is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
It is recognised to provide an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to “live together” better.
The South African Constitution fully recognises the diverse nature of our society and states that South Africa belongs to all who live in it – united in our diversity.
Sunday, 6 April will be the 362nd anniversary of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in the Cape – and of the founding of our mother city – Cape Town.
SPEECH BY FORMER PRESIDENT FW DE KLERK TO THE FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION CONFERENCE ON THE NEED FOR REAL TRANSFORMATION, CAPE TOWN, 31 JANUARY 2014
Remarks made by Prof Jonathan Jansen – Rector of the University of the Free State – in the Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture to the English Academy of South Africa on 18 September, have caused a furore in Afrikaans cultural and educational circles. They have been widely interpreted as a call for English-only education and as a claim that “Afrikaans-exclusive or even Afrikaans-dominant white schools and universities represent a serious threat to race relations in South Africa”.
The recent statements made by Arts and Culture Minister, Paul Mashatile, as well as Pretoria/Tshwane executive mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa – only three days after South Africa celebrated Heritage Day – raise questions regarding their commitment to the Preamble of the Constitution to “heal the divisions of the past” and that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”.
One of the most important aspects recognised in the Constitution of South Africa, is the importance of our collective heritage and the rich cultural, linguistic and historical diversity of our people.
This includes the heritage of all our peoples – from the first nations of South Africa – the KhoiKhoi, Nama and San; our indigenous African peoples – the Zulus, Xhosas, Ndebeles and Swazis; the Tswana, Pedi and South Sotho, Tsonga and Venda; white South Africans descended from the Dutch, English, German and French settlers; our extended coloured community; to the Asians who arrived from the Dutch East Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and from India during the 19th century.