Our Strengths Lie In Our Rich Diversity

September is national Heritage Month, an opportunity to celebrate those things that make South Africa unique. This is time for us to promote understanding, tolerance, respect, unity, social cohesion and national identity.

We are a country with a rich heritage and many diverse groups. Yet it is in unity in this diversity that we derive our strength. Heritage Day, on 24 September, lets us display our different cultural heritages and celebrate our rainbow nation. And as we celebrate, let us concentrate on those things that unite us as a nation and cast aside those things that foster division.

Let us remember the words of Thabo Mbeki, who in a 1996 while deputy president, in speech to parliament on the occasion of the adoption of the Constitutional Bill, said: “A human presence among all these, a feature on the face of our native land thus defined, I know that none dare challenge me when I say – I am an African”. These words remain very relevant, especially at this juncture in our democracy. The important thing is that we are all citizens of this country. We are South Africans, and should pride ourselves in that.

As we celebrate Heritage Day let us do so with one thing in mind – that we are all important pieces of this puzzle called South Africa. Each piece of the puzzle is important so that we can get a complete picture. If one piece is missing, then the puzzle will not make sense because of just that one piece missing. Our young people should take the centre stage during these celebrations because they are the future of our country.

They should be the ones organising these celebrations. And they should not only concentrate on a particular race, but invite everybody so that, indeed, we truly are a rainbow nation. Let us remember what our forefathers did. Let us recall the times of King Shaka, who united tribes with different cultural heritages and made them one, formidable Zulu nation. Let us forget about our physical differences and concentrate on those things that unite us a nation.