MEDIA STATEMENT

Thursday, 19th May 2022

Over the past few days the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture has followed and taken note of public discourse that has unfolded in respect of the envisaged Monumental Flag.

The diversity of voices around this important heritage project are a welcome celebration of our country's vibrant constitutional democracy and the freedoms that must be upheld beyond posterity. It also bodes well for one of the pillars of social cohesion which is an active citizenry.

In upholding these ethos and the inalienable rights of citizens to be heard, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture has directed his department to review the process related to the Monumental Flag in its totality.

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is entrusted with the mandate to transform South Africa's heritage landscape by building monuments, memorials, museums, changing colonial and apartheid names as well as the overarching injunction heal the divisions of the past.

It does so informed by national aspirations and international best practice which appreciates that heritage is among the bedrock of value systems that must drive national pride, social cohesiveness and unity. The World Heritage Convention makes the point that "cultural and natural heritage is not only an irreplaceable source of identity and inspiration, but also a key driving force for sustainable development".

In striving to transform the cultural and heritage landscape of our democratic society, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will continue to be driven by the pursuit of the socio-economic dividend for the country, as well as the historical, symbolic, spiritual and aesthetic values and identity of a democratic South Africa and its people. As we pursue this path, it is hoped that discourse will reflect deeper around these factors.

Statement issued by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, 19 May 2022