My Culture, Your Culture, Our Heritage

The National Heritage Day celebrations on 24 September 2013 are an opportunity to celebrate the rich cultural heritage and diversity that has the power to help build our nation.

On occasion of the 2013 Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) Budget Speech the Western Cape was introduced to “My Culture, Your Culture, Our Heritage” to promote cultural warmth and support work in service of enhancing freedom you can use.  This initiative ties in with the national theme for this year's Heritage Month, which is “Reclaiming, Restoring and Celebrating our Heritage”. Through this theme the Liberation Heritage will be recognised as an integral part of South Africa's living heritage to the youth, in particular the “born free” generation.

The line-up of DCAS heritage celebrations includes a Heritage Festival at Fairmount High School in Grassy Park, one of the Mass Participation, Opportunity and Access, Development and Growth (MOD) Programmmes. 

Another exciting initiative is the Western Cape's participation in the photographic competition, Wiki loves Monuments, which was launched on 2 September 2013. This is an opportunity for locals to capture and contribute the world's culture and heritage to Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, from 1 to 30 September 2013. All photographs submitted to the competition will be reviewed by a panel of some of South Africa’s most celebrated photographers. The final selection at a national level will receive prizes, while the winning photographs from South Africa will be judged in the international competition. A photograph of the Observatory in Cape Town by Wim Filmater was the national winner of the 2012 Wiki Loves Monuments competition.

Our country is home to eight of the world's official heritage sites, as determined by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee. Closer to home in the Western Cape, we have various sites of heritage significance. The four Western Cape Heritage Sites are Community House in Cape Town, Ratelgat in Vanrhynsdorp, Pinnacle Point in Mossel Bay and Baboon Point in Elandsbaai.

The National Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Paul Mashatile, has also announced at the launch of Heritage Month that the road towards 20 years of Freedom in 2014 will be preceded by Freedom Fridays. All South Africans will be encouraged to wear anything that expresses their pride in being South African on Fridays; be it garments in national colours, traditional gear or attire that relates to our national sports teams. 

Please read more about Heritage Western Cape to gain an understanding of what they do on a daily basis.