Deputy President Paul Mashatile will officiate the 2025 Heritage Day celebrations at Bridgeton Sport Grounds in the Oudtshoorn Local Municipality, Western Cape, on September 24, 2025. The event is organized in collaboration with the national Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the Western Cape Provincial Government. This year’s Heritage Month is celebrated under the theme “Re-imagine Our Heritage Institutions for a New Era.”
The celebrations will focus on the importance of leveraging heritage as a foundation for building a dynamic, socially responsive, and economically inclusive future. The event will explore how society, through culture, continues to evolve in response to social, economic, and technological challenges. Museums will be highlighted as custodians of memory and knowledge, and as institutions that can lead the shift towards a more innovative and community-engaged heritage sector.
According to the Presidency, there has been a need for museums to reposition themselves as spaces of relevance, innovation, and community engagement. Deputy President Mashatile emphasized that South Africa’s heritage sector plays a vital role in healing communities and preventing the recurrence of past injustices. He noted that there is a growing need to re-evaluate how heritage is understood and accessed by citizens, in line with the country’s evolving social, economic, and technological challenges.
The commemoration of Heritage Month provides an 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, and nation-building. The event is expected to bring attention to the importance of heritage institutions in promoting social responsiveness, technological innovation, and economic inclusivity.
The 2025 Heritage Day celebrations will be a significant event in South Africa’s cultural calendar, highlighting the country’s rich cultural heritage and its potential to drive social and economic development. As the country continues to evolve and respond to new challenges, the importance of preserving and promoting its heritage will remain a key aspect of its national identity and collective memory.
