International Nelson Mandela Day brought smiles to more than 600 disadvantaged people including 22 children, living at the shelter commonly known as Erf 2 on the corner of Struben and E’skia Mphahlele streets in Marabastad on Friday.
This was made possible by the metro police together with AVBOB, metro employees and the Embassy of the Australian High Commission in celebration of 67 minutes of Mandela Day to add value to people’s lives.
More than 80 representatives of these organisations cleaned the shelter and handed out food and sweets to the children.
The 11-year-old Miriam Shavi said she was excited and felt special. “I wish everyday could be Mandela Day,” Shavi said.
The Tshwane metro police director Trish Armstrong, said the metro police identified the clean-up action at the shelter as part of celebrating Mandela Day.
“Metro police officers did not only volunteer their time, they also dug into their own pockets to raise money to buy cleaning materials, children’s toys and balls,” Armstrong says.
AVBOB and other metro departments such as Social Development and Housing and Human Settlement also came on board to help make the event a success.
In attendance was former Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile, the metro executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa and the MMC for Housing and Human Settlement, Joshua Ngonyama.
Ngonyama said the event was to honour the icon, the former President Nelson Mandela.
“It is important for us to remember the values he stood for. We have to make every day of our lives a Mandela Day,” Ngonyama said.
He said the city had reached an agreement to renovate the shelter.
Ngonyama said there would be a need of good management after the renovations. He said the Housing and Human Settlement department was providing a beneficiary administration to help some of the homeless people live normal lives.
“A person cannot be homeless forever, we need to integrate them back into the society,”Ngonyama said.
