REPRESENTATIVES of southern African countries will meet for eight days from Wednesday to discuss co-operation on cultural issues, Deputy Arts and Culture Minister Brigitte Mabandla said on Tuesday. Mabandla said she hoped the Southern African Development Community ministers and officials would look at arts and culture as a means to unify the region, although member states had co-operated in this field in the past. “We, as South Africans, cannot develop in isolation,” she said. The conference — dubbed Kopano, which means “gathering” in Sotho — would cost about R1 million, she said. It has attracted international speakers from outside the SADC region. The conference will take place at Dikhololo game farm, north of Pretoria from Wednesday to July 26.
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