EDITORIAL: Make Mandela Day compulsory

THE immeasurable amount of goodwill generated on Mandela Day never fails to astound.
This Mandela Day last Friday – the first year since the death of South Africa’s iconic statesman in late 2013 – was no different.
Companies rallied around to throw their weight behind the initiative, and their efforts deserve kudos.
The spirit of the day is certainly being upheld, however is it enough?
It was brought to light last week that one of the recommendations to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, which wasn’t heeded, was the suggestion of a once-off wealth tax and a tax on companies that benefited from apartheid. Perhaps the solution to this oversight – and a gesture which would certainly go a long way towards reconciliation – lies in making every company responsible for at least one Mandela Day project a year.
It would need to be a measurable contribution to an underprivileged community or organisation that could desperately do with the help.
There are countless township schools that could do with educational aids, many hungry mouths among the countless recipients of aid from several Toti-based NGOs. These NGOs do excellent work, and are always in need of assistance to accomplish their aims.
It needn’t be financial, as donations of man-hours are equally significant and beneficial.
The spirit of giving back to others in need must be prioritised as Mandela himself intended it, both by government and those who are in a position to make a difference, if South Africa is to make inroads in the inequalities that still exist 20 years after apartheid ended.