Mandela Day: ‘He was a special human being’

Dance, song and gifts were the order of the day at the Fingertips of Africa event to celebrate the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela yesterday in Alexandra.

More than 150 people attended the event and were showered with gifts and food parcels.

Alexandra, the oldest Johannesburg township, was home to Mandela from 1941, when he rented a room before relocating to one of the two houses owned by John Xhoma from Cradock who ran a transport business.

Fingertips of Africa was a charity established to reduce the financial hardships during lockdown. The organisation runs shelters and youth centres in Soweto and Alexandra.

“In Alexandra, we honour Nelson Mandela on a daily basis, not just today. We have a youth centres, shelters for the homeless and we are running a sewing school among other things. We could not have achieved this milestone without FeedSA, Angel Network and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD),” Fingertips of Africa said.

Noxolo Mkhize, 64, who attended the event, said: “We are happy to celebrate the life of Madiba; he is still a special human being.

“He sacrificed his entire life for all of us, hence he deserves to be remembered each year.”

At the event, overjoyed children were singing and dancing in different groups while elderly people sat and watched the children honouring the late country’s president.

Angel Network, in partnership with the SAJBD, said they collected R700 000 to help needy people in Johannesburg and Cape Town. They are dispatching food parcels, perishable and non-perishable, to Orange Farm, Alexandra, Soweto, Slovoville and Brakpan.

“We are giving out perishable and non-perishable food that will last for three weeks in a family of five members.

“We will provide food to more than 900 families around Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“It is not enough but we are not stopping there,” said Glynne Wolman, founder and director of Angel Network.

In Brakpan, Jessie Nkosi and Yakima Waner started a harvest project focusing on helping immigrant minors or children and shackdwellers from Plastic City informal settlement.

The children, aged between two and 10, are stateless, which means they do not get any government services, including primary health care.

The duo have been able to establish an early childhood development centre. “We have been allowed to use the synagogue as our working centre. We have been able to feed 87 kids since last year, and we are continuing, thanks to the support that we are getting.

“We have started a garden project to sustain the project and also to show kids that there is always hope by them watching these plants as they grow,” Waner said.

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