Jubilation and service were the order of the day this past July 18, as thousands of learners in Atteridgeville and Saulsville commemorated Mandela Day.
Rekord stopped by St Ann’s Primary School in Atteridgeville and Thohoyandou Primary School in Saulsville to see how the youth were celebrating the day.
Both schools held special functions with performances, activities and guest speakers from different sectors highlighting the importance of the day.
At St Ann’s various stakeholders visited the school to partake and contribute to the activities.
Principal Martha Gladwin said values such as ubuntu, forgiveness, being caring, loving and having respect are some of the morals she wished to instil in her learners.
“Whatever action we embark on, let’s respect the values that Tata left for us,” she said.
“If we respected those values we wouldn’t have street kids, those absent fathers and families that are living in poverty. If you have one loaf, I have to share, that’s the mentality we want our community to have. That’s why we invited the media because this is a message that needs to be shared,” Gladwin said.
Col Vuyisile Mose from the South African Air Force base in Waterkloof said that Mandela Day is about recognising the gospel of ubuntu.
“Mandela Day must not be just for a day, we must make Mandela Day each and every day. People are suffering outside, our mothers don’t go to work, and our children are afraid to play in the street because of the violence that is happening in this country,” Mose said.
“It is the duty of all of us to make our country safer, not only relying upon the police and the defence force. We adopted this school, whenever there’s anything needed, we will contribute to this school.”
At Thohoyandou Primary, the Soulbent Project, an NGO known for its clean-up campaigns around the area, hosted an event with the school and stakeholders.
Soulbent Project CEO and co-founder, Mashudu Makhado, said a lot of the kids in the community don’t have support for essentials such as clothing and toiletries.
He said they wanted to use the day to celebrate the children.
“In future, we want to see doctors, lawyers, principals, mayors and presidents, through supporting our kids we are going to ensure that our future is secured. We want to ensure our kids are supported and educated,” Makhado said.
“I studied here when I was young, so this school holds a special place in my heart but it’s not only going to be this school that we are visiting we are looking at others around the area,” he said.
Soulbent and its partners engaged in different activities throughout the day, including painting, clean-ups, tree planting, gardening and building refurbishments.
Stakeholders of the day included corporate sponsors, government bodies, Tshwane metro and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment among others.
Mayor Cilliers Brink came to address the children.
“We do this every year to remind ourselves what true sacrifice and service and leadership is. What I would like to emphasise on this Mandela Day [is the] need to keep our streets, parks and communities clean,” Brink said.
Brink commended the Soulbent Project for the work it does around the area and encouraged community members to support their efforts.
“We all have a responsibility to keep spaces clean and not just dump anywhere, but make sure that we dump in the bin. To help out Soulbent when they do a clean-up. This is how we take our communities back and make them beautiful,” Brink concluded.
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