Department of Arts and Culture
THE CHARTER FOR AFRICAN CULTURAL
RENAISSANCE
29 JAN 2014
CONTENT
1. Purpose of the presentation
2. Background on the Charter
3. Strategic Focus of the Charter
4. Process undertaken for ratification
5. Implementation strategy
6. Reference Group
7. List of relevant National Departments
8. Implications of the Charter
9. Way Forward
10. Recommendations
PURPOSE
 To obtain approval for ratification of the Charter for
African Cultural Renaissance in terms of the section
231 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa.
 To obtain inputs on the associated draft strategy to
implement the Charter in South Africa.
BACKGROUND
 The Charter for African Cultural Renaissance was endorsed by the
first African Union Conference of Ministers of Culture held in Nairobi
10 -14 December 2005 and adopted by the 6th ordinary session of
the African Union Assembly that was held in Khartoum, Sudan on 24
January 2006.
 The Charter recognizes the role of culture in political emancipation
and in economic and social development, considering that, cultural
exchanges and initiative contributes to mutual enrichment,
understanding between human beings and to peace amongst
states.
 Of member states of the African Union, six (6) Member States which
are: Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Congo, Chad and Ethiopia have ratified
the Charter and twenty eight (28) Member States have signed it so
far.
 Like other international instruments, the Charter does not replace
any national cultural policies but complements and strengthen
existing cultural policies and cultural engagements in the continent.
STRATEGIC FOCUS OF THE CHARTER
The Charter for African Cultural Renaissance has a number of
outcomes specifically the promotion of the unified combination of
culture, arts, cultural values, language, heritage and cultural and
creative industries as central to sustainable development. In
practical terms, these outcomes have a potential to become strong
contributors to the economy, social cohesion, technological progress
and poverty alleviation. The Charter for African Cultural
Renaissance is aligned to the Industrial Growth Plan, the National
Development Plan, the White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage
and the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy.
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PREPARATORY PROCESSES UNDERTAKEN
FOR RATIFICATION
The ratification of the Charter by the South African government is a response to
Declaration on Cultural Renaissance and Shared Values of the 16th Ordinary Session
of the AU Heads of State and Government held in Equatorial Guinea, January 2011
and the launch of the AU Campaign on the Charter which took place in late 2011 in
South Africa.
This was followed by South Africa’s signing of the Charter during Africa Day
celebrations in May 2012.
The consultations and workshops held in 2011-2013 were wide ranging in raising
awareness of the Charter and also for identifying the importance and significance of
the Charter for South African arts and cultural life.
Following this, a discussion document, ‘Policy alignment: the Charter for African
Cultural Renaissance’ was developed, which revealed a policy strong alignment of the
Charter, with substantial knowledge and awareness of the Charter within the
Department, in other government Departments and amongst stakeholders in civil
society.
A booklet on the Charter was also developed and translated into two other official
languages, seTswana and isiZulu, a part of promotion and popularising the Charter.
While challenges remain in the lack of synergy between policies and programmes
there were clear indicators of progress. The draft implementation plan addresses those
areas which still need alignment.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
 The implementation strategy of the Charter has taken into
consideration the following:
 Divided the Charter obligations into four imperatives: Economic,
Social, Political and Cultural.
 Developed a policy alignment document of the Charter with
existing policies, programmes and strategies.
 Identified gaps and areas of improvement.
 Proposed to incorporate the identified gaps into the Review of the
White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage.
 Advocate long-term intervention to ensure the needs of culture
and creative industries are sufficiently accommodated in the
National Development Plan and Industrial Policy Action Plan.
 Ensure commitment to the implementation of the Charter through
implementation forums at national and provincial government
spheres.
FOUR IMPERATIVES
IMPERATIVES
Economic
CHARTER OBLIGATIONS
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Political
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Support cultural development through incentive measures in fiscal, legislative and
administrative plans
Financial, technical and other forms of assistance to stimulate artistic creation and
expression, preferably by the establishment of national funds for the promotion of arts
and culture
Providing fiscal assistance and incentives measures, particularly tax exemption for African
cultural goods and services
Measures for the protection of intellectual property rights related to the expression of
cultural diversity
Enact national and inter-African laws and regulations guaranteeing the protection of
copyright and set up national authors’ associations and copyright offices and encourage
the establishment of authors’ associations.
Subscribing to and ratifying charters, conventions and other legislative instruments for the
preservation and promotion of artistic creation and expression
Harmonizing national policies and legislation with international charters, conventions and
other legislative instruments
Build the capacity of the AU
Strengthen ties with the African Diaspora worldwide in the areas of culture, education,
science and technology, finance and economy
IMPERATIVES
Social
CHARTER OBLIGATIONS
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Introduction of African cultural values and the universal principles of human rights in
education
Protect and promote the freedom of artists, intellectuals and men and women of culture
Facilitate access to education and culture for all segments of the population
Guarantee equal access of women and men to cultural expression, decision-making, art
and cultural professions
Recognise cultural expressions by the youth, according them their true value and
responding to their aspirations
Official recognition of elders and traditional leaders
Specialist training for creative artists should be provided in national, sub-regional and
regional training institutions which should be established by Africans
Prepare and implement reforms for the introduction of African languages into the
education curriculum
Extend the use of African languages taking into consideration the requirements of social
cohesion and technological progress
Encourage the use of the information and communication media for their cultural
development and promotion
New information and communication technologies are used to promote African culture
IMPERATIVES
Cultural
CHARTER OBLIGATIONS
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Ensure that the General History of Africa published by UNESCO constitutes a valid base
for teaching the History of Africa and recommend its dissemination, including in African
languages
Creates an enabling environment for cultural innovation and development
Protects and develop tangible and intangible cultural heritage
Build the capacity of the cultural sector and stakeholders through the organization of
festivals, seminars, conferences, training and refresher courses at national, sub-regional,
continental and Pan-African level
Enable the environment to enhance the access and participation of all in culture
Define training policies for artists that guarantee the freedom of artists, creators and
other cultural stakeholders
Promote the establishment of publishing and distribution houses for books, textbooks,
children’s books and audio-visual works, particularly in African languages
Create an enabling environment that will enhance the creation, protection, production
and distribution of cultural works
Develop an appropriate institutional framework with a view to facilitating creativity and
artistic expression
Implement the recommendations regarding the state of heritage in Africa and support
the Fund
Put an end to the pillage and illicit traffic of African cultural property, archives and
intellectual materials and ensure that such cultural property is returned
Create the facilities necessary for the preservation and maintenance of repatriated
materials
Organize cultural events such as festivals, symposia, sporting events and arts exhibitions
Establish cultural research centres and encourage cultural exchange programmes
POLICY ALIGNMENT OF THE CHARTER
 The Policy alignment exercise revealed a strong alignment of the Charter with
Industrial Growth Plan, the National Development Plan, the White Paper on Arts,
Culture and Heritage and the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy.
 While challenges remain in the lack of synergy between policies and programmes;
lack of appropriate funding and financing strategies and models; limited research
institutions, skilled policy makers and centres of excellence as well as the
absence of relevant or updated national policies there were clear indicators of
progress.
 Areas of progress are:
- adoption of four complementary strategies: the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy,
the Social Cohesion Strategy, the National Development Plan and the Industrial
Growth Plan.
- current review of the White Paper for Arts and Culture and its revision into a new
Cultural Policy for the Department of Arts and Culture.
 South Africa has also made substantive progress in recognising the importance of
indigenous languages in policy and legislation.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Most of the provisions encapsulated in the Charter are already accommodated in
existing policies, strategies and programmes in government as outlined in the policy
alignment document. To be fully compliant with the provisions of the Charter those
elements of the economic, political, social and cultural imperatives of the Charter that
need strengthening of existing efforts or new programmes will be addressed through
the following interventions:
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Support cultural development through fiscal incentives.
Stimulate artistic creation through the articulation of funding into a coherent
system.
Advocate to provide tax exemption for cultural goods and services.
Take a lead on enacting inter-African laws and regulations guaranteeing the
protection of copyright.
Implement the Social Cohesion Strategy championed by the Department of Arts
and Culture.
Support existing Pan African Platforms that promote exchange and dialogue.
Strengthen ties with the African diaspora.
Support an education system to emphasise universal principles of human rights.
Develop a national arts development programme for the youth incorporating the
resources of all cultural, education and development agencies.
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Support existing programmes and new programmes in education and
training institutions that provide professional tuition in contemporary
and indigenous art forms in all disciplines.
Use all forms of media to promote the arts, disseminate information,
educate consumer and create arts programming in support of this.
Consider developing a language programme to accommodate the
adoption of Swahili as a fourth official language in the African Union.
Promote the General History of Africa to schools in multiple languages.
Build the capacity of the cultural sector and stakeholders.
Resource the forums set up to end the pillage and illicit traffic in African
cultural property such as the National Forum for the Law Enforcement
of Heritage related matters.
Develop mechanisms that will ensure archives and other historical
records are returned to South Africa.
Establish inter-African cultural co-operation.
Explore the feasibility of hosting ‘seasons’ with other African countries.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
MECHANISMS
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The four imperatives will allow synergy in the cross-cutting policy obligations of the
Charter and ensure alignment in a broader sense of development in South Africa.
Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism involves the establishment of an
interdepartmental Charter Committee in line with identified 4 imperatives and DAC
overseeing progress and reporting.
The Charter Committee will identify champions from all relevant departments against
the implementation of the Charter
The Provincial Workshops will establish provincial forums as follows:
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Charter Committee with Provincial Government and Local Municipalities of the
Province
Terms of Reference to guide the Charter Committee and Provincial Forums on the
Charter will be developed.
It is expected that the Charter Committee deliver annual reports to AU Conference of
the Ministers of Culture every two (2) years and a comprehensive report to Cabinet
every four years to align with timeframes for MTSF.
NB: The Planned launch - symposium and provincial workshops will further interrogate the
above and ensure specifics in terms of who, how and when.
REFERENCE GROUP MEMBERS
The following individuals and institutions were appointed to form a reference group to
advise and make inputs in the draft Implementation Strategy of the Charter.
 Ms. Monica Newton, (then) CEO of the National Arts Council, their
involvement is on the institutional expertise and ensuring their representation in
the strategy. NAC is also planning to resuscitate the continental dialogue with
other arts councils in the region and continent using the Charter as a guiding
document.
 Prof. Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju, Act CEO of the Africa Institute of South
Africa has a good relations with the academic and research institutions in the SA
and rest of the continent and diaspora. They are appropriate to create a link
between the Charter and research base work. Their expertise will be used to
access the academic community in the implementation of the Charter.
 Mr Tshepo Mashiane, Secretary General of Economic, Social and Cultural
Council – South African Chapter (ECOSOCC-SA Chapter) is an institution
established under Article 2 and 22 of the AU Constitutive Act. Their involvement
will enhance the government engagement with the civil society and creates
dialogue and sustainable partnerships to enhance the implementation of the
Charter.
DEPARTMENTS DIRECTLY AFFECTED
DEPARTMENTS
RELEVANT AREAS
Department of Trade and Industry
Cultural Industries, protection IPR and trade
opportunities
National Planning Commission
Role of arts and culture in the future of SA economy and
society
Dept of Basic Education
Arts Education and National Languages in school
curriculum
Dept of Higher Education and Training
Art Education and Training targeting Humanities
Department of Labour
The right and status of artists as labourers
Department of Communications
The use of Mass Media
Department of Tourism
Heritage sites and museums
Dept. of Science and Technology
Dept of Cooperative Governance and Traditional
Affairs
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and innovations
Coordination Systems of government
IMPLICATIONS
 FINANCIAL : There are no financial implications for ratifying the Charter.
However, it is planned that interdept meetings be held with affected
departments to develop 5 year plans in line with the MTEF cycle starting
in 2014.
 CONSTITUTIONAL: The Charter obligations are consisted with the
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
 VULNERABLE GROUPS are beneficiaries of the implementation
strategy of the Charter, especially youth in relation to national arts
development programmes, professional training, education and
language promotion.
 LEGAL : Legal opinion was obtained from DOJ and DIRCO and
confirmed that the Charter does not contravene domestic laws and it is
in line with international laws.
WAY FORWARD
The process going forward:
 Media launch and a symposium on the Charter.
 Provincial and institutional workshops.
 Collaborate with AUC for Social Affairs to campaign for
ratification in other regions.
 Consolidated progress report to the AU Conference of Ministers
of Culture to be held in October 2014.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that you:
 Note the content of the presentation;
 Make inputs on the draft strategy for implementing the Charter;
 Approve that South Africa ratify the Charter for African Cultural
Renaissance;
Thank you