As we observe Heritage Day today, our aim is to ensure that African cultural renaissance is pre-eminent, even as we seek and implement solutions towards the continent’s sustainable development, in a globalised context.

Former President Nelson Mandela in his 1996 speech on Heritage Day stated that: "When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.” This quote has three major anecdotes of our continent worth reminiscing as we mark Heritage Day today.

Knowing our Rich and Varied Cultural Heritage: The 5th Aspiration of Agenda 2063 calls for an Africa with a Strong Cultural Identity Common Heritage, Values and Ethics. It is important that through these celebrations, we re-echo what our continent boasts of to our younger generations and to ensure that in seeking globalisation, we do not lose our identities. An effective tool is our educational systems, and this is a call for us to reconsider modes of delivery. We need to rethink our languages of instruction in our schools if we are to develop on our terms as a continent.  Learning environments that are semantically rich enable students to grasp the learning concepts much more effectively, than one in which a student is already disadvantaged by first having to navigate through terms that are in a foreign tongue.

Profound Power: It is important that we do not underestimate the potentials that lie within our rich culture and diversity. This power has kept us resilient as a people in the face of all adversities. Our rich folklore and proverbs are essential guiding pieces to life, long after the wise men and women who shared them existed. We therefore, implore our fellow Africans to not only celebrate who they are but to learn from our historical past and stay rooted in our culture and heritage while seeking innovative and modern solutions for the challenges we currently face.

Our New Existence: Inarguably, we are in shifting dispensations, and moving into an era popularly called the “new normal.” Let us embrace our heritage as a tool that allows us to define who we are coherently. It is through this self-awareness of who we are in our African heritage that we will be able to engage more meaningfully and with greater impact with the rest of the world in a post-COVID Africa. As Africans, we cannot afford to ‘borrow’ other mindsets that perpetuate thinking that is in discordance with our values and ethics as a people.

As the continental development agency, we at AUDA-NEPAD fully support inculcating the spirit of pan-Africanism among Africans and tapping in our rich heritage and culture to ensure that our growth and transformation is within the broader context of our heritage.

It is certainly fitting that this year’s Heritage Day is marked with the #JerusalemaChallenge, a call from the President of South Africa and the current African Union chair, H.E Ramaphosa, to bring some joy in our lives after a tumultuous period brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.  We invite you to enjoy a rendition of the Jerusalema dance performed by staff at AUDA-NEPAD: https://youtu.be/NrUbX1hwgzI.

Happy Heritage Day!

Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki

CEO, AUDA-NEPAD