Dear UP community,

World Heritage Day is observed on 18 April around the world, but in South Africa, Heritage Day is celebrated annually on 24 September. 

This day recognises and celebrates the cultural wealth of South Africa. It is intrinsically significant to honour our roots and the heritage that makes us unique. The importance of our collective heritage and the rich cultural, linguistic and historical landscape that colours the canvas of our diversity is recognised in the country’s Constitution, which proclaims in its preamble that South Africa belongs to all who live in it – united in their diversity.

Heritage Day is also a significant day for the University of Pretoria (UP), as it marks the three-year anniversary of the Javett Art Centre at UP (Javett-UP). Since its opening in 2019, Javett-UP has used Heritage Day as an important vehicle to promote cultural diversity, social cohesion, reconciliation, peace and economic development. Within Javett-UP, there are researchers, academics and students who possess a high degree of knowledge, skills and history pertaining to different aspects of diverse living heritage.

On 23 September, pianist, composer and UP alumnus Keenan Meyer will kick off celebrations with a one-night-only heritage experience at Javett-UP’s Yakhal’Inkomo exhibition, from the Bongi Dhlomo collection. This performance is indicative that through music we are able to explore the moment, remembering where we come from and reimagining ourselves going forward. This attests to the fact that heritage sites are not for the dead but for the living. For this reason, I urge everyone to save and preserve them as we commemorate this day. We are encouraged by the way in which Javett-UP contributes to the growth of the art and cultural heritage sector, as well as in pursuing innovation and solution-driven curatorial programming that impacts collective human conditions from within surrounding regions.

This year, the UP Museums celebrate their 100-year anniversary of art preservation and collection – a phenomenal milestone. The UP Museums are the proud hosts of the first and only Mapungubwe Archive, and in February 2022, the archive was launched as a research repository. The project was generously funded by the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation in association with the US embassy in Pretoria in order to preserve the historical material and establish the archive as a repository. In true heritage preservation spirit, they are running a competition about the different art pieces spread across all campuses; please do take part.

This Heritage Month shows that heritage need not just be cultural, but how developing a new African archive as a research resource can promote enduring archives as another form of South African heritage. In August 2022, Polokwane-born artist Malose Pete completed my inaugural portrait, which was commissioned by UP’s Art Committee and forms part of the University’s institutional memory. The portrait, which is being held by the UP Museums, is traditionally exhibited in the lower foyer of the Administration Building on Hatfield campus, the location of the UP Rectorate and Executive. I am honoured to be included in this collection, which includes people who have led and guided this storied institution through decades of turbulent waters to create a leading university on our continent. I am delighted with the portrait and very impressed by the work of this young artist.

UP further recognises Heritage Day as a time to reflect on the practices and traditions that are passed on from parents to children and from the family, community and places where people have been raised or work. This aligns with our strategic goals of collaboration and transdisciplinarity.

I would like to urge you to continue working with other faculties and departments not just to create amazing research but also to share and exchange knowledge to make for a better, richer UP of the future.

I wish you and your loved ones a happy Heritage Day.

Kind regards,

Professor Tawana Kupe

Vice-Chancellor and Principal