Mandela’s 67 Minutes: What happened to the slogan #MandelaDay2024 #Itisstillinyourhands?

Nelson Mandela International Day was launched on July 18, 2009, in recognition of Nelson Mandela’s birthday on July 18, 1918.

The day has in 15 years become an annual global celebration that takes place on July 18 to honour the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela.

The day has famously been associated with the slogan, “67 Minutes of Service”, however, few people know the origin and reason behind its replacement.

According to Nelson Mandela Foundation, in 2009, it was calculated that Mandela spent 67 years of his life in service for social justice – his years of activism and mobilisation in prison as well as as president of the Republic of South Africa.

However, it seems that something went wrong with the calculation because, in 2009, Madiba had in fact spent 65 years fighting for social justice since he joined the ANC in 1944. Even with this error, the 67 Minutes campaign went global and became the rallying call for Nelson Mandela International Day.

Nelson Mandela Foundation head of communication and marketing Tshepang Motsekuoa said many notable campaigns were started rallying on the 67 Minutes campaign, such as the 67 Blankets initiative by Carolyn Steyn and the Mandela Day Libraries all across the country.

“The 67 Minutes gave people an opportunity to take part in short, action-based projects in service of their communities including painting schools, cleaning up streets and making sandwiches.

“Very quickly, the criticism came that Mandela Day was not making a sustainable impact in the world, but instead encouraged short-term charity work.”

The world needed long-term, collaborative initiatives in honour of Madiba’s legacy, so the foundation introduced the “Make Every Day A Mandela Day” slogan in 2011.

According to Motsekuoa, this was to encourage people to take responsibility for social justice in their communities every day of the year.

She said the idea to transform the day into a long-term initiative was an aspiration that Mandela Day would become more than just a day, but a global movement of ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their communities and Madiba.

She said this year’s theme for Nelson Mandela International Day was to return to Madiba’s words when he gave us his birthday as a day for doing good in the world – “It is still in your hands to combat poverty and inequity”.

“With this message we are motivating the world to take ownership of our communities and of the well-being of the people in our neighbourhoods. In the difficult economic and social environment we are in, nobody is coming to save us. It is up to all of us to uphold the legacy of our beloved icon, Nelson Mandela,” said Motsekuoa.

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