ANC marches for Madiba
MORE than 300 Chatsworth residents and ward councillors marched through the streets of the township on Sunday, in a gesture of their appreciation of the work and ideals of Nelson Mandela.
The Ward 73 ANC and ANC Youth League initiative saw residents from the ward (Units 5,7 and 9), Ward 69 (Bayview), Ward 65 (Umhlatuzana), Ward 70 (Unit 3), Ward 71 (Shallcross and Bottlebrush) and Ward 72 (Welbedacht and part of Unit 9), gather and march from the Fragrance Street Market, opposite the Chatsworth Centre, towards the Chatsworth Cricket Oval.
The crowd, which included children, brought traffic to a standstill as they made their way through.
The children were treated to a fun day after the march and received gift hampers containing clothing, stationery and goodies to eat.
Human Settlements MEC, Ravi Pillay, and former ward councillor, Brandon Pillay, were present.
Ward 73 spokesperson Charles Stephan said: “We wanted to show them (locals) the legacy of Mandela and we chose to do something with the youth because they are our future leaders. We need to show them that we can support them and guide them. A lot of the kids here are from disadvantaged backgrounds so we try our best to help them.”
Ward secretary Suzanna Govender told POST the day was to show that the spirit of Madiba was still alive.
“We want to show the younger generation the struggles he went through and how he overcame those and fought for a non-racial country. We want to give hope to the kids here, especially from this ward and surrounding areas because many of them come from underprivileged backgrounds, so we are trying to do more uplifting programmes for the community and especially the youth.”
Govender said the programmes were also for families in need.
“We run soup kitchens, feeding schemes, we hold learning centres and we try to empower them to make something better of their situation through education,” she said.
The chairperson of the Chatsworth branch of the ANC Youth League, Dasen Naidoo, said the event was also a driver for social cohesion in the community.
“Looking around we have kids from all races and the idea is to bring them together for a fun filled day and teach them to interact with one another,” he said.
MEC Pillay also touched on social cohesion.
“I think it is great that we have a mix of cultures and races. It promotes unity and it defeats those with the intentions of destroying social cohesion in the country. I always think of Mandela at times like this and the relationship he shared with Ahmed Kathrada and Mac Maharaj.”
Pillay added that when it comes to the youth, education is priority.
“Mandela believed in education and education is number one for these kids, so we always aim to encourage them to lead by the example set by Mandela. There’s a quote by Mandela about climbing many hills and I think in a nutshell, these kids have many hills to climb.
“It’s our job to prepare them and encourage them to never give up,” he said.