The world celebrates an icon
DURBAN: Mandela Day was celebrated on Saturday with the famous, the not-so-famous and the average person getting down to do their bit for the community in memory of South Africa’s iconic leader.
In the Eastern Cape village of Mvezo, where Mandela was born, Education Minister Angie Motshekga worked with volunteers to refurbish the Makgatho Lewanika Primary School and erect a perimeter fence.
“The ground on which we stand today is a refurbished school which will further the ideals of uTata, who loved children and valued education more than anything else,” she said.
According to Motshekga, the school, which President Jacob Zuma is expected to officially open next month, would ensure that the children of Mvezo never again “become hewers of wood and drawers of water”.
“We expect the next generation of Mvezo children to take up their rightful place in commerce, academia, leadership and the advancement of human rights and dignity.”
Education was also the theme brought by leader of the opposition Mmusi Maimane, who said it was contributing to the country’s unemployment.
The DA leader commemorated the day at Bokamoso Community Project Centre in Soweto. He pointed out that those worst affected by unemployment were the youth, among whom the jobless rate was even higher.
“We talk about the so-called born free generation, but in truth, no one is affected more harshly by unemployment than young people. Of those who are unemployed, two out of every three are young people,” Maimane said.
He added that South Africans needed a levelled playing field and good-quality education to break the cycle of poverty and unemployment.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela celebrated the day by handing blankets to pensioners in Soweto. She also cut a birthday cake with her grandson.
She urged South Africans to be patient as the country strove to achieve the aims sought by those who had fought apartheid.
“This day is a day on which we pray that with all the challenges this country is faced with and the leadership of this country (is faced with), everything would take the shape we have all dreamt of. This is that of a transformed South Africa where there would be no racism; which will better the lives of every one of us.”
“We want to say to our people, who express themselves sometimes very angrily, ‘let us be patient and allow our country to take its course in developing to what we fought for’.”
But while the politicians were garnering media attention, social websites such as Twitter and Facebook were full of messages and images showing how people were making a difference to their communities in celebrating the birthday of the country’s national icon.
Police from the Honeydew police station in Johannesburg took time out and let children have a ride in their “police trolley” – fitted with custom blue lights – at the Clearwater Mall before taking part in the mall’s trolley race, which was also a fund-raiser for charity.
A group of bikers, known as Bikers for Mandela, donated blankets to the aged in Ladybrand in the Free State.
Acting Western Cape police commissioner Major-General Thembisile Patekile visited the Kayamandi community in Stellenbosch and donated blankets.
In Mabalstad, North West, a local high school was cleaned up and painted. A hardware store provided the paint, while employees and board members of community radio station Mafisa FM helped to paint Moefi High School as did parents and traditional leaders.
Women arrived in droves at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus to knit blankets as part of the 67 Blankets for Mandela Day drive. Organisers said 8 000 blankets had been received in the past few weeks from people across the country.
Across the oceans, people also performed their acts of goodwill.
In Washington DC, US, the office of the mayor Muriel Bowser arranged a clean-up to celebrate, with pictures proudly posted on Twitter.