Category: English

National Heritage Council Programmes Manager Amos Mulaudzi has urged South Africans to use indigenous languages in their daily lives to help preserve culture and heritage, highlighting storytelling as a powerful tool in this effort.

While acknowledging technological advances, Mulaudzi said people must return to basics and respect the sacred nature of traditions.

He highlighted the need to transform South Africa’s heritage landscape by reconnecting communities with oral traditions, storytelling and indigenous knowledge, while critically contextualising historical narratives for today’s society.

“It’s a simple thing that people have forgotten: using our languages. We still have to go back to sitting around the fires and listening to stories that educate us about life in general. 

“As much as we have digital technology, it doesn’t mean we can forget who we are as people. We therefore have to adapt our indigenous knowledge systems so that we draw on indigenous knowledge in our innovation and creativity,” Mulaudzi said on Wednesday in Pretoria.

He made the remarks during a dialogue titled: “South Africa’s Heritage as a Key Milestone: Institutions and Society”.

The dialogue formed part of Heritage Month commemorations. Heritage Day is observed annually on 24 September. This year, Heritage Month was commemorated under the theme: “Celebrating Our Living Heritage: Strengthening the Ties That Bind Us”.

Mulaudzi said South Africa’s heritage should be taught in the school curriculum because it is central to the country’s identity. 

“It’s about who we are. It’s good that technology makes it easier for us to reach communities we would not normally reach. But we also have to use technology responsibly. There are things within living traditions that are sacred.

“There are things within our living traditions that are restricted. So, as and when we share this knowledge and information, it is always important to engage elders and seek their consent.

“The beauty of our living heritage lies in its sacredness. Elders should therefore be involved in decisions about heritage management. They are there to be honoured and acknowledged,” he said.  –SAnews.gov.za

 

 

 

 

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The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has assured all communities, water users, and stakeholders affected by upstream slope damage at Bloemhof Dam that the matter is being actively managed and remains under continuous oversight by the engineering and technical specialists.

“A contractor is already on site and is undertaking the necessary maintenance preparations under the direct guidance of departmental experts. Whilst monitoring dam safety issues at Bloemhof Dam, dams in the integrated Vaal River System are being operated at elevated dam levels to ensure water security in the system.

“This was done being mindful of a need to manage floods when they present themselves in the system. Bloemhof Dam is currently at 109%,” the department said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the department’s rehabilitation assessment, repair work at the dam can only begin when a dry working area is created.

The department said it will steadily start releasing water to lower the dam to full supply level (100%).

Communities are assured that the amount of water to be released will not cause flooding downstream.

“To achieve this, a release of 400 m3/s (cubic meters per second) will be commenced until the target level is achieved. This is expected to be within a week or two,” the department said.

Further analyses are currently underway to establish the dam level at which the objectives of dam safety, water security and flood management can be balanced.

However, the department noted that dam safety takes precedence and should a directive be received from the Dam Safety Office to maintain the dam at a specific level, it will be legally binding for the department to operate Bloemhof Dam accordingly.

The department reaffirmed its commitment to transparent communication and engaging stakeholders and provide regular updates as the maintenance programme progresses.

“The public can be assured that every effort is being made to complete the repairs as quickly and safely as possible, while safeguarding the long-term resilience of this strategic water resource,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za

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As Heritage Month draws to a close, government has called on South African institutions and communities to work together to safeguard the country’s heritage and ensure that its diverse histories, languages and traditions are recognised.

Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Deputy Director-General Michael Currin described South Africa’s shared heritage as a living resource that promotes social cohesion, strengthens identity, supports nation-building and drives innovation and inclusive development.

“With the advent of democracy, South Africa set out to build a national identity rooted in dignity, equality and mutual respect. Heritage Day became part of this nation-building project – a public holiday that recognises different cultural identities while affirming that all should exist in harmony and unity as one South Africa,” Currin said in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Speaking at a dialogue titled: “South Africa’s Heritage as a Key Milestone: Institutions and Society”, Currin said the country’s shared heritage and cultural diversity could foster unity, belonging and mutual respect.

“Heritage Day is a reminder that South Africa’s diversity is not a source of division, but a foundation for unity, social cohesion and nation-building. It is a day to honour the histories, languages, traditions and living heritage of all communities while renewing our commitment to an inclusive democratic future,” Currin said.

He added that respectful partnerships between institutions and communities could deepen trust, strengthen social cohesion and foster a shared sense of national belonging.

“Universities, museums, heritage sites, archives and cultural bodies help society preserve knowledge, memory and living heritage for future generations.

“Community media preserves heritage by documenting local histories, amplifying indigenous languages and cultural traditions, and giving communities a platform to pass their knowledge and stories to future generations,” Currin said.

The dialogue provided a platform for critical reflection on heritage, freedom, democratic memory and society’s role in shaping a shared national future.

“South Africa is a nation of diverse cultures, languages, histories and traditions, each contributing to the richness of our national identity. Our heritage is preserved by our people and finds expression in the languages we speak, the stories we tell, our music and dance, the food we prepare, and the clothes and crafts we create.

“Of course, much of what we are becoming as a nation is being shaped by young South Africans as they build and develop new identities, new connections, and new ways of being and creating … all of which, if I may say, I find very exciting and refreshing for our national identity,” Currin said.

Heritage Day is observed annually on 24 September. This year, Heritage Month was commemorated under the theme: “Celebrating Our Living Heritage: Strengthening the Ties That Bind Us”.

Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) Chief Executive Officer Shoeshoe Qhu raised concerns about gaps in media coverage of South Africa’s diverse cultures, particularly on technology-enabled platforms that could help communities share their stories and deepen understanding of their origins.

“I think we make an occasion of our heritage. Once the month comes to an end, we put the blankets and beads away until there is either a wedding or September next year,” she said.

Qhu urged mainstream media to help preserve South Africa’s cultural heritage by telling more stories about its traditions and communities.

“For those working in media and communication, we must intentionally use technology to ensure that knowledge acquired outside academic institutions is given the legitimacy and authority it deserves, rather than being undermined.

“There is a great deal of work to be done. Preserving this knowledge cannot be left solely to community media. Some South African languages have rich traditions, yet little written presence and almost no representation in mainstream media. People have to seek them out. I therefore believe we have a greater responsibility,” she said.

Currin said Heritage Month gave South Africans an opportunity to explore their heritage, deepen their collective identity and build stronger, more cohesive communities.

“Heritage Month provides a unifying platform for individuals and communities to reaffirm their commitment to social cohesion, cultural diversity and the enduring values of Ubuntu.

“Living heritage is a dynamic and community-centred resource that not only reflects our past, but actively contributes to nation-building, intergenerational dialogue and inclusive development.

“By encouraging broad community participation, Heritage Month empowers local voices, strengthens cultural expression and celebrates the rich tapestry of traditions that define South Africa’s diverse identity,” he said. –SAnews.gov.za

 

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Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Steve Letsike has encouraged young people to view setbacks as interruptions rather than defining moments in their lives.

Addressing young people at the launch of 2026 Take 2 initiative, held in Orange Farm on Tuesday, Letsike said young people should not be defined by difficult circumstances, but should have opportunities to change direction, pursue their ambitions, and build better futures.

Letsike encouraged young people to feel empowered to seek healthcare without fear of judgement, ask questions, pursue new opportunities, and change direction.

However, Letsike warned against placing the responsibility for overcoming adversity entirely on young people’s shoulders, while failing to address the structural challenges that limit their opportunities.

“It is too easy for society to tell young people to be resilient while leaving unchanged the conditions that require extraordinary resilience simply to survive,” the Deputy Minister said.

She called for health services that respect young people, education systems that provide continued support, safer communities where girls can move without fear, economic opportunities that are accessible to all, and public institutions capable of meeting young people where they are.

The Deputy Minister said the broader objective of Take 2 should help build a society in which no young person is permanently disadvantaged by one interruption, difficult season, mistake, act of violence committed against them, and lost opportunity, or circumstances into which they were born.

“Let us fight option poverty by expanding the number of futures that young people can realistically choose.”

Letsike emphasised that the success of an equal society should be measured not only by whether young people received an initial opportunity, but also by whether they had a way back when life interrupted their progress.

“The measure of an equal society is not only whether everyone is offered a first opportunity. It is also whether, when life knocks someone off course, everyone still has a road back,” the Deputy Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za
 

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The Department of Health has announced a 2.88% increase to the Single Exit Price (SEP) of all registered medicines listed on the national database effective from 1 October 2026.

In a statement, the department said the move is part of government’s efforts to “respond to exceptional domestic and geopolitical pricing pressures affecting the pharmaceutical sector”.

“The 2.88% increase is intended to provide manufacturers with relief to sustain medicine supply, while maintaining affordability for patients and medical schemes. This extraordinary price adjustment applies to all medicines registered and listed in the national database as at 30 September 2026, including all related pack sizes.

“This decision follows sustained engagement between government and the pharmaceutical sector, which identified rising input costs, supply chain pressures, and geopolitical factors as key risks to medicine availability,” the department said.

Furthermore, the adjustment is part of ongoing efforts to “balance affordability with sustainable supply”.

“It is expected to provide temporary relief to manufacturers facing cost pressures arising from, among other factors, geopolitical tensions.

“The Single Exit Price is South Africa’s regulated maximum price for medicines sold in the private sector. It is the only price at which a manufacturer or importer may sell a medicine to any buyer, including pharmacies, dispensing doctors, hospitals. The SEP does not apply to the State.

“The SEP framework is designed to improve the affordability and predictability of medicine costs, while preventing different buyers from paying different prices for the same medicine,” the department noted. – SAnews.gov.za

 

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Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Steve Letsike has called for a youth development system that gives young people opportunities to recover from setbacks and re-enter education, employment and the economy.

Letsike was speaking at the launch of the Take 2 campaign at the Orange Farm Multipurpose Centre in Gauteng on Tuesday.

The Take 2 campaign is a localised social and behaviour change initiative empowering adolescent girls and young women aged 15 – 24.

The campaign brings together HIV testing, family planning, counselling, mentorship, entrepreneurship, self-care and hygiene support to help young women make informed and empowered lifestyle choices.

Letsike emphasised the need to address the barriers that prevent young people, particularly adolescent girls and young women, from accessing healthcare, education and economic opportunities.

She said the initiative presents an opportunity to address the “inequality of second chances”, where young people from disadvantaged backgrounds often have fewer opportunities to recover from setbacks, compared to those with access to financial and social support.

“Beginning again should not be a privilege available only to those who can afford it,” Letsike said.

She said the Constitution’s commitment to human dignity, equality and freedom must translate into tangible improvements in young people’s everyday lives, including their ability to make informed decisions about their bodies and reproductive health.

Letsike also highlighted what she calls “option poverty”, which refers not only to a lack of financial resources but also to the absence of meaningful choices.

“For many young people, choice is constrained long before a decision is ever made. A young woman may know that contraception is available, but still not feel able to negotiate its use safely,” Letsike said.

The Deputy Minister noted that transport costs, limited access to reliable information, economic dependence, gender-based violence and inaccessible services continue to restrict young people’s ability to exercise their rights and make decisions about their futures.

She also warned against placing the responsibility solely on young people to make better choices, saying meaningful choice requires access to knowledge, safe and accessible services, freedom from coercion and an environment free from stigma and discrimination.

Letsike said sexual and reproductive health, particularly for adolescent girls and young women, should be addressed alongside economic empowerment, education, gender-based violence and broader social circumstances affecting their lives.

“Government may have separate departments, separate budgets and separate programmes, but a young woman does not live a departmental life. She lives one life.”

She called for a more integrated approach to service delivery, ensuring that young people who experience violence, leave school, seek employment or live with disabilities are not excluded from the support and opportunities they need.

Letsike emphasised that youth development programmes should be measured not only by the number of young people enrolled, but also by whether they complete their programmes and successfully transition into further education, employment, or entrepreneurship.

She also stressed the importance of creating opportunities for young people to return to education and training, acquire new skills and re-enter the labour market when they experience interruptions in their personal or professional lives.

“Youth development must have no dead ends,” she said, calling on government, healthcare institutions, educational institutions, employers and communities to reassess how their services and systems respond to young people’s needs.

Letsike said government needs to ensure that public services are accessible, respectful and responsive, while schools, colleges and universities should provide pathways for learners whose education have been interrupted.

She also urged employers to reconsider the demand for prior work experience when young people were still seeking opportunities to gain the necessary skills and exposure.

Communities, Letsike said, have a responsibility to challenge social norms that condone violence, stigmatise young mothers, restrict girls’ choices and exclude persons with disabilities.

Welcoming the integrated service provision and experiential zones included in the Take 2 launch, Letsike said partnerships are meaningful when they help to bring services closer to young people.

She commended Tiko South Africa and its partners for involving young people in the initiative, emphasising that adolescent girls and young women should participate in designing solutions that affect their lives.

“The voices of adolescent girls and young women matter. We should not be designing solutions for young people in rooms from which young people themselves are absent,” Letsike said. – SAnews.gov.za

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By Ryan Peter
Over the years, I have stood in front of many coastal interpretive signs. All but very few tell you what you may not do. Some tell you about the birds, the dunes and rock pools. None can be read by people with poor eyesight, and very few talk to people whose language is isiXhosa or isiZulu.

This changed somewhat on 11 February this year when South Africa’s first Braille coastal interpretive signs were unveiled in Eerste Steen at the Blaauwberg Nature Reserve, created by Blind SA’s Braille, where blind people contributed directly to the design of the signs.

We continue on 6 October 2026, at Grotto East in Hermanus with the unveiling of seven prototype Living Coast signs as part of a new national series, to be launched during Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa’s (WESSA) Coastal Celebration, celebrating 100 years of WESSA and 25 years of Blue Flag in South Africa.

Living Coast builds on something which started more than two decades ago when the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) installed coastal interpretive signs at beaches around the country as part of the CoastCare initiative. A library of fact sheets accompanied these signs to schools and libraries from Alexander Bay to Kosi Bay.

The signs have served their purpose well. They told us why the dune is important, what lives in a rock pool, and why cars must not be on beaches. Signs age, science changes, and our expectations evolve. Many original signs have become faded, damaged or even lost. Instead of reprinting the signs, however, we asked ourselves a more fundamental question: if we were to design coastal interpretation today, what would it look like?

The answer lies in the principles of the Integrated Coastal Management Act: the seashore and sea are coastal public property owned by the state for the benefit of all South Africans, giving everyone the right of reasonable access. While we spent many years fighting to establish the principle of physical access, we have ignored a different kind of exclusivity – a coast which one can reach but cannot comprehend.

A sign that can be used effectively only by sighted and English-speaking adults is a sign which has already made the decision of whom the coast belongs to. Along South Africa’s 3 593 km coastline, this decision has been made countless times, usually without our realisation.

Living Coast represents an attempt to correct this situation. Every installation includes two components. The main board tells the interpretive story using highly readable formats, the specially-designed typeface for people with poor eyesight and an anti-glare coating making the text easy to read in strong sunlight.

Beneath it, there is an independent accessibility rail, placed at the seated height level and designed in such a way that a person in a wheelchair, child or a blind visitor can use it on his/her own. Braille is not a decoration. Each plate with text is manufactured and verified by Blind SA, with the text printed in uncontracted Braille, thus allowing even newer Braille readers to use it.

Once we discovered that each sign requires seven or eight Braille plates instead of the expected three, our first reaction was about the cost. The second reaction, however, was a realisation that this is what taking the reader seriously means.

The content of the signs has been designed to work across the languages. English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa and isiZulu versions can be produced without any changes in the design. Hermanus prototypes include English and Afrikaans versions with Braille, while Afrikaans digital guides have already been made. Other languages will follow as part of this series.

While a physical sign can contain only a limited amount of information, a QR code can give you access to an entire library.

Each Living Coast sign gives visitors access to an expanding range of digital guides, including audio tours, a species guide featuring more than 279 original illustrations, a coastal quiz, a citizen science guide, visitor information, a plain-language fact sheet about coastal policies, tide and weather information, and the national ocean and coast information system. A beach-safety guide, developed in consultation with emergency services, is also added.

The audio plays the same role as Braille. The visitor unable to read the board can listen to it. Cooperating with the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities, we have also provided synchronised and sentence-by-sentence subtitles for the visitors with hearing loss and those who prefer to read along.

It is a simple goal – to provide the information in the way most suitable to the visitor. Such elements have been implemented in some places elsewhere. Some US and UK national parks provide audio posts together with the interpretive boards. In some places, there are QR codes providing beach information in multiple languages. Wayfinding in Braille is also common in public buildings.

What we tried to develop is the national coastal interpretive system incorporating these elements: Braille, large print, accessibility positioning, multiple languages, narrated and subtitled audio, and a set of digital information accessible via a single code.

The entire Living Coast series will include 97 signs, stretching from the West Coast to the northern coast of KwaZulu-Natal and covering estuaries, dunes, kelp forests, coastal birds and the communities and reserves in-between.

We could have waited until we finished everything. Instead, we decided to install seven prototypes in Hermanus, watch how people use them, consult Blind SA, the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), Pioneer School learners and Overstrand Municipality residents, and fix our mistakes before launching the signs widely.

This is the value of collaboration. DFFE is leading the design and development of the series. WESSA, the Overstrand Municipality and CapeNature are manufacturing and installing the prototypes. Blind SA is producing the Braille, while the NCPD is providing the expertise on accessibility.

Our coast belongs to all of us. A sign may seem like a small thing, but it is one of the first things telling a visitor whether he/she is welcome.

The first generation of coastal signs told South Africans what was worth caring about. This generation of signs is trying to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to hear, read and touch it.

*Peter is the Director responsible for Coastal Development and Coordination at the DFFE

 

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