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Celebrating our diverse but equal heritage

By

Dear Editor

Today, as we come together to commemorate Heritage Day, it is important to take a step back and look at why we celebrate this day.

Former President Nelson Mandela perhaps explained it best when he said: “When our first democratically elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.”

The heritage of every single person matters. We are a diverse but equal nation and no person’s heritage is more important than the next.

By preserving our heritage, we safeguard the wisdom of the past, celebrate our cultural diversity, and provide a source of inspiration and continuity for generations to come.

Sadly, those who have been given the responsibility of being custodians of our diverse heritage, are failing us. Across the province, significant cultural and historical sites have been left to deteriorate and fall into disrepair.

New monuments erected to pay tribute to the brave individuals who fought to bring about change and rescue South Africa from past oppression have been neglected. Just as celebrating our heritage brings us closer, neglecting our heritage can have far-reaching consequences.

This neglect also has economic repercussions, as the potential for tourism and cultural industries around this heritage is squandered.

We just have to look at the Sarah Baartman Remembrance Centre in Hankey, or the Red Location Museum in Gqeberha.

It has been nine years since work started on the Sarah Baartman Remembrance Centre. More than R200 million has been spent, and still, the doors remain closed. Disputes with contractors and shoddy workmanship have mired this project in mismanagement and delays.

The ANC government has now promised that the project will be completed by February 2024, let us hope that this is not another empty promise.

The Red Location Museum in New Brighton, Gqeberha, was built in honour of people who fought against apartheid, but it has been closed since 2013. The buildings have been vandalised while criminals prowl the streets.

This museum, that should be honouring the memory of the people who laid down their lives for freedom, now only serves as a monument to the failings of the corrupt and criminal ANC.

The DA has been fighting to preserve our diverse heritage for many years, whilst the ANC government stumbles from project to project, never finishing what it started and allowing the others to crumble to dust.

We have shown our commitment to preserving and celebrating our heritage. The DA believes in a future where the Eastern Cape thrives, where every heritage can be celebrated and honoured.

Let us work together to rescue this amazing province and take it towards a brighter future.

Regards

Andrew Whitfield MP
DA EC Provincial Leader

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