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(The original PowerPoint presentation is available at http://www.gov.za/speeches/briefings01/ngubane.ppt)

Allow me to begin today by saying how pleased I am to have this opportunity to discuss some of our projects with you.

Heritage Day

I will start with what is one of my Ministry's most immediate concerns. Heritage Day is on 24 September, and we are already involved in a number of events to familiarise people with the themes of this year's event. In many ways we in South Africa are involved in building a new country and an important part of the process of building a new country is the building of a common pride and identification with a set of national symbols. Heritage Day this year is concerned with popularising our new national symbols - our flag, anthem and coat of arms.

It takes many years for something to become entrenched in a people's culture. I believe we are nearing this point with Heritage Day. In the beginning many people did not understand the importance of such a day. However, this is becoming a recognised and widely celebrated public holiday, giving many communities all over South Africa the chance to celebrate their history and culture.

The different themes of Heritage Day over the years have symbolised our changing priorities as a nation. In the first year in which our heritage was celebrated, the focus was on Enoch Sontonga who composed Nkosi Sikelele Africa. It was important, in this first year, to make a statement about the need to recognise the forgotten or silenced heritage of the majority of South Africans. Here was the man who composed South Africa's national anthem, lying in an unmarked grave. Other themes of Heritage Day have included Unity in Diversity, the opening of Robben Island as a national monument and museum, and a celebration of our multi-lingualism.

We believe that it is now time to focus on those symbols that mark us as a nation. As we all know, there is a fine line between building a nationalism based on narrow definitions and exclusion, and one that is inclusive and based on what unifies a particular country. An important way to encourage this latter type of national unity is through national symbols. One need only look at the power of our most popular "national symbol" - our former president, Nelson Mandela - to understand how important it is for diverse groups to find some common bond around a particular symbol.

We are at a point of transition in adopting national symbols that are emblematic of our new democracy. The national anthem and flag are broadly accepted, yet more work needs to be done to popularise the other symbols of our national unity, particularly the coat of arms.

Our aim is to ensure that every South African understands the significance of the symbols contained in the coat of arms, and the use of specific colours in the national flag. With familiarisation, it is hoped, will come identification.

Government has been criticised in the past for holding one-off events that have a limited impact because there is no follow-up. We have therefore decided to run a publicity and educational programme in the run-up to Heritage Day, explaining the various national symbols and their importance. In this way we hope to begin to instil a sense of ownership of, and respect for, the national symbols amongst all South Africans.

Heritage Day itself will be celebrated with a street parade being hosted in Pretoria. The work that has been done in developing the Heritage Day national symbols programme will continue into the future, with the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology working with a range of other departments to develop a set of guidelines around the use of our national symbols. We believe that in this way we are beginning to change the way in which national holidays are celebrated in this country.

The Music Industry Task Team

From the inception of the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology we have been aware of the very real grievances that many South African musicians have with the way in which the local music industry operates. Our first task in transforming the arts and cultural industries was to develop new policies and legislation that would begin to redress the inequalities of the past through redistributing national funding and setting up new institutions that would work to develop artists, art forms and audiences that had previously been neglected.

The Cultural Industries Growth Strategy took this a step further by looking specifically at the economic potential of the cultural industries and mapping out a strategy to develop these industries. The need to develop the local music industry was included as a national priority area in the Cabinet's Economic and Employment Cluster lekgotla in January this year.

The music industry supported these initiatives, yet there were a number of issues and grievances within the industry that needed to be dealt with in a specific forum. I established the Music Industry Task Team early last year in order to address these various problems. The Task Team was made up of a number of respected local and international experts in the music industry.

The Task Team submitted a range of recommendations that were identified as critical in overcoming the current impasses in the industry. What is very clear in the report of the Task Team is the extent to which the issues affecting this industry cut across the line functions of a range of government departments. The recommendations made by the Music Industry Task Team can be categorised according to the following areas: the setting up of various social benefit schemes for musicians and other artists who, even if they are with the same record company for many years, are classed as freelance workers and are therefore not eligible for pensions or medical aids; legislative amendments to the Copyright Act and to current labour legislation and the establishment of legal aid services for musicians; the establishment of a Music Export Council; the raising of local content quotas; mechanisms to combat music piracy; and a range of general mechanisms to develop the music industry as a whole.

We are working with our colleagues in the Departments of Trade and Industry; Labour; Communications and Education to implement the various recommendations made by the Task Team.

A pilot project, for example, is being worked on with the Legal Aid Board to establish a legal assistance facility to deal with musicians' legal queries and to offer musicians advice around contracts and intellectual property issues. The project is aimed at pairing music industry expertise with the legal knowledge at the Legal Aid Board. It is estimated that this project will cost R1 million over the next two years for training of lawyers in the specifics of the music business.

We believe that this and other projects will go a long way in ensuring that the exploitation of South African artists is no longer possible, and in developing the industry for the benefit of musicians, industry executives and the country as a whole.

The Biotechnology strategy

Recently the national papers reported on a case in which a medicinal plant, long used by the Bushmen of South Africa to stave off hunger on long hunting trips, is being developed by a multi-national drug company in the United States. Even now that the case has been publicised it is not clear whether or not the people who first discovered and used this plant will ever benefit from its development as an anti-obesity drug set to earn billions of dollars for the company that "owns" it.

This points to the new reality of what many are seeing as the latest manifestation of North/South inequality - differential access to biotechnology.

The full benefits of global scientific advance over the last 200 years of scientific progress and industrial growth are enjoyed by possibly no more than one fifth of the world's population. As markets are increasingly globalised, the barriers to entering certain technological areas and becoming globally competitive are growing.

Yet many developing countries, such as Cuba and Brazil, have recognised the importance of developing their own biotechnology industries. It is vital that South Africa also begins to develop its capacity in this area. The National Research and Technology Foresight (NRTF) Study, launched in March last year, provided a structured opportunity to look ahead and consider the role that may be required of science and technology in the future of our economy. The Foresight Study identified biotechnology as one of the industries with the highest potential for economic growth and development.

The application of biotechnology has enjoyed significant influence in the transformation of the agricultural, health and other sectors, globally as well as in South Africa. People around the world continue to benefit from the way in which biotechnology has transformed and advanced these sectors through the production of vaccines and the development of drought resistant crops - to mention just two examples. As a government we need to manage the development of biotechnology to ensure that any risks are minimised and that positive socio-economic impacts are maximised. To this end we are engaged in the development of a national biotechnology strategy, a draft of which is soon to be gazetted.

The strategy has been developed by an expert panel under the guidance of an interdepartmental steering committee led by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. The strategy is aimed mainly at government and its associated institutions. It is also in particular directed at an, as yet fledgling, biotechnology industry.

The biotechnology strategy will play a major role in our contribution towards human resource capacity building in the fields of molecular biology, bio informatics, information technology, engineering and business development, among others.

In addition to this strategy, my Ministry will soon be launching a biotechnology incubator to accommodate up to 20 biotechnology small and medium enterprises (SMMEs) and to assist these enterprises in their further development.

I am please to have had the opportunity to discuss these projects with you, and welcome any suggestions of how we might work together in the future.

Issued by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology