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Durban. South Africa is proud to be hosting the World Conference against Racism (WCAR), which is a first for the African continent. During the conference, discussions will centre on various factors that give rise to racism.

Racism is closely linked to cultural ignorance. Therefore, cultural information has to form an important backdrop to these discussions on the many faces of racism. Cabinet realised the importance of a cultural programme at the conference, and generously approved an amount of R4 150 000,00 towards this goal.

Arrangements for the Cultural Programme were a giant and joint effort involving the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, and SANGOCO.

The programme covers a broad spectrum of cultural manifestations. The moment delegates set foot on South African soil; they will be immersed in South African culture. At the Johannesburg International Airport, the international and domestic arrival halls are being decorated with examples of our local arts and crafts. This lends a concrete dimension to the South African experience of the conference delegates, but also serves to enhance the visibility of South African arts and crafts to other tourists and to South Africans themselves.

At the Durban International Airport a series of spectacular free-standing murals have been erected. These works of art represent the Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Ndebele, Indian, !Xu and Khwe cultures.

For the next week and more, musicians and actors from across South Africa and the continent will participate in live entertainment and theatre performances in Durban. At the official opening ceremony in the International Convention Centre on 31 August, the focus will be on dance. Ballet Theatre Afrikan, under the artistic direction of Martin Schönberg, will use various dance forms to create a fusion of indigenous, traditional and contemporary dances. The Convention Centre will resound with jazz on 7 September, when the Centre for Jazz & Popular Music, directed by Darius Brubeck, will perform indigenous, traditional and modern music to celebrate the closing of the Conference.

An important cultural event during the Conference will be the international concert on 1 September, which will be open to the public. This will take place in the ABSA Stadium here in Durban.

Between 2 and 5 September, some of the large Durban hotels will be the venue for busking at set times during the day. A number of cultural groups from KwaZulu-Natal will treat hotel guests to this form of live entertainment.

On Sunday, 2 September, 600 delegates will be taken on a tour in and around Durban. This will be an opportunity to market South Africa and create exposure for communities active in the field of tourism.

There will also be a Film and Theatre Festival and various exhibitions to enhance the Cultural Programme. The Theatre Festival will be launched on 27 August in the Playhouse. Three plays will be performed until 6 September at the Playhouse, BAT Centre and Kwazuka Theatres respectively. The Film Festival launch will be held on 29 August and the Festival will run form 29 - 31 August and again from 2 - 6 September at the Playhouse, Kwa-Muhle Museum, Ster-Kinekor Theatre (Workshop) and the Avalon Theatre in the Berea Shopping Centre. Although some international films will be screened, the focus will be on locally produced films, adding value to the African experience of delegates to the Conference.

DACST supports exhibitions at the Durban Art Gallery and the Kwa-Muhle Museum as part of the cultural programme. I will officially open the exhibition Apartheid Architecture, Urban Design and Spatial Policy at the Kwa-Muhle Museum on 28 August. This exhibition examines the use of architecture, urban design and spatial policy in the implementation of apartheid. The exhibition draws on Foucault's writings and elaborations on Bentham's Panopticon as a model for the organisation of the Apartheid City. The Arts Against Apartheid exhibition, which was previously only seen in Parliament in Cape Town, will be mounted in the Durban Art Gallery from the middle of August, and will be opened by the Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology on 30 August 2001. Other exhibitions will be on show at Old Court House Museum.

Other centres around the country will also run exhibitions related to racism for the duration - the Northern Flagship in Pretoria, the Southern Flagship in Cape Town, the National Museum in Bloemfontein and the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley. The Afrikaanse Taalmuseum will exhibit material on racism in the form of printed media articles.

We hope that all Conference delegates and the public in Durban will enjoy the sights and sounds of South African culture that will be provided, and that they will derive from it a better understanding of and greater tolerance for each other's culture.

Enquiries: Andile Xaba on 082 370 5336 or Mack Lewele on 082 450 5076

Issued by the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, 23 August 2001