Trevor Manuel on moulding our heritage

There is much we as South Africans still need to do to ensure a promising future for all and free the potential of each person, former Cabinet Minister, Dr Trevor Manuel, said at a prestige lecture on Thursday (17 September) held at the Stellenbosch University Museum. 

The lecture, titled Youth employment and entrepreneurship: Moulding our Heritage,​​ formed part of the Stellenbosch Heritage project’s 2015 programme.

"That moment when we adopted our Constitution in May 1996, was truly the inflection point in our history. It marked the shift from the struggle against the apartheid regime to the struggle for a new humanism in a democratic order. We have to understand that this was the ‘turning point’ and not the end point in struggle," Dr Manuel said.

He said the challenge that we constructed for ourselves in the Constitution still requires much work. "It is not as though we have not made any progress in the 19 years since its adoption, but we are probably guilty of not marking the route we have traversed, articulating our successes along the way, and being brutally honest about what remains to be done. This omission means that each subsequent generation may believe that they are starting afresh," he added. 

Dr Manuel touched on issues such as unemployment and the school dropout rate, growing inequalities, the quality of education and educational levels and said these are all challenges that we should be confronting. He however, emphasised that it is imperative that we first understand these challenges, analyse trends, engage in constant conversation, take collective responsibility and then take considered actions. "Understanding these matters is important, because it is in addressing them that we seek to forge a common heritage, which will be shaped by the commitment to free the potential of each person."

According to Manuel, the employment of young people is a global issue. "It was youth unemployment that triggered what became known as the Arab Spring, it is the risk of youth unemployment that drives jingoistic nationalist movements that oppose immigrants in Europe, it is the risk of youth unemployment that keeps political leaders in countries such as China awake at night," he said.

"Whatever we seek to do, must take account of all of the global competitive pressures that will present in labour markets. We simply have to be better, faster, fitter and more appropriate with the skills that we produce. Our constitutional imperatives do not give us any option but to understand that 'improving the quality of life and freeing the potential of each person' is what an appreciation of the responsibilities of our heritage demands."

Manuel ended off by saying that "we owe our children a commitment that we have sufficient energy to continue to tackle the remaining remnants of the apartheid past still evident as the injustices of the present, and that this is our Heritage Project". 

In his welcoming address, SU Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Wim de Villiers said: "'Heritage' is normally a reference to the past, to the things we cherish and want to preserve for future generations. But with the Stellenbosch Heritage Project, the emphasis is on the future, on the legacy that we want to leave for the next generation."

The prestige lecture on Thursday is but one of a series of activities that will be taking place as part of the Stellenbosch Heritage Project. This year's Heritage Day programme includes numerous sport and cultural events.