As if that was not enough, Mabuza donated a fully-furnished renovated house to Gogo Julia who celebrated her birthday in style with her friends and the premier.
During her celebration held at Umjindini Township Community
Hall on Sunday, a quiet and wheelchair-ridden Gogo was seen being hand-fed and cared for by her granddaughter as were 75, all 90 years and older, who celebrated with her.
The elderly were treated to live entertainment by a popular gospel
group, Masibuyele KuJehova, and further received blankets and
groceries from Mabuza.
Gogo Julia lived in a dilapidated one-room house, which Mabuza, through the help of local business people, rebuilt and extended it thereby adding two more bedrooms, a lounge, dining room and a kitchen through his DD Mabuza Foundation.
Speaking at the packed ceremony, the premier reiterated that the elders should not be sent to the old-age homes, but should be cared for by their families as they were important pillars in building strong families.
“We should not send our elderly to an old-age home, in our culture
when we do that, we are chasing them away. “They should play their role in our families because they are a living encyclopaedia, it is our responsibility to take care of them.
“These days, there is a gap between the elderly and young people, we are disjointed, and we need the elders to play their role, they must stand their ground, tell the truth whether it’s nice or not,
because we need to get our identity from them as people,” said Mabuza.
He said some young people did not have respect for other people, and as such they needed to learn from the elders. He further complimented the elderly, especially those who had lived on farms like Gogo Julia for their role in the fight against “oppression” saying they resisted and brought freedom to the people of South
Africa.
“The war is still not over yet, we should continue fighting
for people like Gogo Julia, but we should not behave as if some of us will live in this world forever. Personally I will continue fighting for people like her, I know that I always walk next to my grave, one day it will open up, and I will move in, but even those who are threatening to kill me, they will die too one day,” said Mabuza. David Mabuza wishes Gogo Julia Madonsela a jolly birthday.
