United in our diversity once a year

Towards the end of last month, South Africans came out in their numbers to give meaning to the slogan, “We are united in our diversity.”

As happens with the annual celebration of Heritage Day, the message was the same as it has been on each previous occasion. And no wonder: this represents a time when we are called on to recognise and celebrate the cultural wealth of South Africa as we reflect on our varied cultural heritage.

After all, we are a country which has 11 recognised official languages. Others are also engaged in efforts to be given official status.

The month’s festivities reach their crescendo on the weekend prior to the public holiday, Heritage Day, which falls on September 24.

This year – on Friday, September 20 – offices looked bright and beautiful as staff wore their colourful traditional clothes to reflect our cultural diversity. And, like their office counterparts, shop assistants were also encouraged by their bosses to don their traditional attire for work.

“Be proud and show us who you really are.” That seems to have been the message that was spread to South Africans as we tried to outdo and impress each other. On Tuesday, September 24, radio and TV stations went into overdrive when it came to playing traditional music – whatever that is. We enjoyed the braai, drank a lot and mixed with all the people we could mix with at different venues countrywide.

It was the rainbow nation as envisaged more than two decades ago by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the late former president, Nelson Mandela. A colleague indicated that even at church, they were encouraged to wear their traditional attire for Heritage Day.

But…

Yes, you knew a ‘but’ was coming. There are a few questions I have been asking myself for days now, and I felt that this might be the right time to voice them: Why should we wear our cultural clothes or show our true identities only in September? Are we only in touch with who we are at this time of the year, or are we so gullible to the commercialisation of our heritage that we, as a people, will do what we are told to do by our employers to show that we embrace our heritage only in September? Why can we not wear traditional garb on any day of the year – they are our clothes, right?

Come October, and we are back to office-appropriate clothing, with shop assistants dressed in uniform and the bright colours of the rainbow that is South Africa are all gone. They will be hauled out again next September or if you are lucky to attend a traditional wedding soon.

I do not have the answers, but I feel that as a people we should showcase our heritage, our very selves – represented in the clothes we wear, what we eat and the music we listen to – more often than simply waiting for Heritage Month to come around once a year.

Let us be proud of our respective cultures and traditions, and show how united we are in our diversity as often as we choose.

Dumisane Lubisi Executive editor | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 Dumisane.Lubisi@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

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City Press is an agenda-setting South African news brand that publishes across platforms. Its flagship print edition is distributed on a Sunday.