Programme Directors,
Minister of Basic Education and all Ministers and Deputy Ministers present,
MECs present,
Representatives from our neighbouring sister countries,
School Governing Bodies’ Parents, educators and learners,
Distinguished Guests

I wish to welcome all of you to the 2015 edition of the South African Schools Eisteddfod National Championships.

This event is an appropriate and exciting way to end a whole month’s activities during the month of June, which is Youth Month in our country.

Every June month, we celebrate the contribution of South African youth to the attainment of freedom and democracy in our country and we dedicate it to focusing on building a better and brighter future for all our young people.

We have had a full month of exciting activities under the theme Youth Moving South Africa Forward.

This evening young people are again moving not only South Africa but Africa forward through music, a very powerful instrument of uniting our people across the borders of our continent.

Music plays an important role in African societies. It is an integral part of the life of every African.

Music and dance are activities that characterize an African musical expression and play an important part in the lives of the people.

Choral music in particular has been extremely popular in our country for decades.

It is within this context that the South African Schools Eisteddfod Championship is so important in our quest to promote our culture as a people, and to teach our children all that is exciting and colourful about our culture.

The 2015 edition of the Eisteddfod coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter which was adopted at the Congress of the People, in Kliptown, on 26 June 1955.

The Freedom Charter unambiguously declared that, “The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be opened!” It further unequivocally said,
“Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children”.

The music competition resonates very well with these principles as it is accessible to all learners.

In addition, the educational needs of learners in the 21st century’ extend beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. It should build a total human being, and that entails teaching our children to celebrate their culture and identity.

I am pleased that this choral music national championships includes the performance of 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' the National Anthem of the Republic of South Africa.

I am even more impressed by the addition to the music performance of the Preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and also performance of the Plea for Africa.

It is also even more significant that we have included the singing of the African Union (AU) Anthem as part of this 2015 edition. This helps to instill in our learners that South Africa is an integral part of the African continent.

Let me reiterate that all our learners must know and appreciate the African Union anthem.

As you prepare for the championships, let me emphasise to our youth that young people must be free to express themselves through music, song and dance. That is part of your African existence and culture, regardless of your colour, race or creed.

Also important for our youth, as part of building total and well-rounded human beings, is the need for all schools to teach history as a subject and for it to be compulsory.

Youth need to know the history of this country and of the African people generally in the continent so that they can be able to chart a better future.

Without knowing the past, our children and youth will be people without a foundation and without any grounding whatsoever. They will be inclined to repeat the mistakes of the past. We urge parents to support us in the campaign to promote history as a subject in all our schools.

Distinguished guests,

We are happy that this competition has drawn sister countries from within SADC as well. We extend a warm welcome to Swaziland schools in our Eisteddfod and this is the first step towards a bigger vision of this programme.

We also note the presence of Lesotho, Namibia and Botswana. Discussions with other member states are ongoing. In the near future,
the next layer of competition will be the SADC competition that will bring the vision of a region united in culture to reality. We are one people. We are neighbours and we are brothers and sisters.

In conclusion, many years ago now, our founding father of the new South Africa uTata Nelson Mandela made a bold statement when he said that our country needed an "RDP of the soul", the Reconstruction and Development of its soul.

I believe it is through music, song and dance that we can move closer towards that goal as music heals the soul and unites people.

I wish all choirs all of the best with the championships.

I thank you