By: Natasha Archary

International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, has issued an apology to the arts community for offensive comments made in a clip that went viral this week.
While the clip is taken from an interview the Minister had in September last year, Pandor’s comments that South Africa need critical skills development and not more arts trainers, did not sit well with the arts sector.
“We must ensure that we have greater skills development on the continent, and that to in the critical skills areas.
I don’t think we want more arts trainers, or sorry to the arts people, but I think science is important, technology, engineering, because those are skills that we desperately need.
I think as well in the finance and economic sectors, we need highly trained people, than information technology.”
Naledi Pandor’s comments about the Arts sector was called offensive
Minister Naledi Pandor's statement ignores the fact that it is the arts fratenity that continues to put South Africa on the world map. People like @Trevornoah, @RealBlackCoffee, @wouterkellerman and many more achieve this with no support from and reliance on @MYANC government. pic.twitter.com/eWnqmDT7w1
— Sabelo Mthembu (@sabelomthembu) May 2, 2023
While the Minister has since issued an apology, the discussion on Kaya Drive focused around why the arts community is undermined.
“Minister Pandor apologises for any offence caused by her comments to the members of the arts community,” the department said in a statement.
Pandor was speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, based in the United States, when she made the comments.
[Read] International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, has issued an apology to the arts community https://t.co/tvYkX0Y0kZ @DIRCO_ZA pic.twitter.com/bLiSma8ZYK
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) May 3, 2023
Sizwe Dhlomo wanted to know how people felt about Naledi Pandor’s opinions, saying he agreed with Juliet Joseph that there is space for everyone.
“I don’t think the Minister said that every Bachelor of Arts degree is worthless, and don’t get me wrong I don’t want to sound like I’m over-compensating for her.
But, I think what the Minister meant was that there are critical skills that are lacking in the continent that we need to direct young people towards those fields.
We also need to define what she means when she says ‘arts?’
Sizwe Dhlomo discusses Minister Naledi Pandor’s comments about the arts community
The Kaya Drive host mentioned that Pandor addressed critical skills, which meant skills that were a matter of life and death, in other words, skills that the country simply could not do without.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Drive:
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