Mbeki: Preserve culture

2004-09-24 16:54

Kimberley - A challenge for the African Renaissance was to empower Africans, including Afrikaans and English-speaking Africans, to be proud of their traditions and to take their place as equals with all the people of the world, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.

Traditions must form part of every South African's daily activities and people should halt the erosion and destruction of their traditions and beliefs, Mbeki said at the National Heritage Day celebrations at the Galeshewe stadium in Kimberley.

Mbeki said many South Africans practised their African traditions under cover of darkness.

South Africans needed to confront the reality that by their mannerisms and other ways of living they saw themselves as clones of other cultures.

"We must confront this challenge every day and ensure that we bring to a stop the erosion and destruction of our traditions and beliefs."

Mbeki said if South Africans failed to do so they would condemn themselves to become people without a past, without identity, and without culture and tradition.

South Africans would need to preserve their traditions within the context of an ever-changing world driven by modern technology.

"We are fortunate that there are still some ordinary men and women of our country that are daily weaving a memory, beading a legacy and cutting a spoor, telling a story and loading these into the bowls of history," Mbeki said.

- SAPA