Deputy President Paul Mashatile, acting as the President, will officiate the 2025 Heritage Day celebrations at Bridgeton Sport Grounds in the Oudtshoorn Local Municipality, Western Cape.
Taking place on Wednesday, 24 September 2025, the event is organised in collaboration with the national Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) and the Western Cape Provincial Government.
According to the Presidency, this year’s Heritage Month is celebrated with the theme: “Re-imagine Our Heritage Institutions for a New Era.”
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This year’s Heritage Day will focus on the importance of leveraging heritage as a foundation for building a dynamic, socially responsive, technologically innovative and economically inclusive future.
The celebrations on Wednesday are expected to focus on how society, through culture, continues to evolve in response to social, economic, and technological challenges.
“It will also focus on museums as custodians of memory and knowledge, and as institutions that are uniquely positioned to lead the shift.
“Museums are at the heart of transformation and are part of heritage sites that are traditionally tasked with the collection, preservation, and exhibition of cultural artefacts,” the advisory read.
Over the years, the Presidency stated that there has been a need for museums to urgently reposition themselves as spaces of relevance, innovation, and community engagement.
“South Africa’s heritage sector has long been a cornerstone of our national identity, collective memory and reconciliation. So, our museums as cultural and heritage institutions play a vital role in healing communities and preventing the recurrence of past injustices,” said the Deputy President.
He added that there was a growing need to re-evaluate how heritage is understood and accessed by the citizens, in line with the country’s evolving social, economic and technological challenges.
“Thus, the commemoration of Heritage Month this year provides us with a timely opportunity to reflect on this shift and explore how memory can be transformed into momentum by using heritage as a tool for innovation, job creation, social cohesion, as well as nation-building,” Deputy President Mashatile added.
