Pretoria - Cabinet has called on all South Africans to support the 94+ Projects for Madiba campaign aimed at celebrating former President Nelson Mandela's 94th birthday and his legacy by improving infrastructure in 94 schools across the country.
Madiba will once again reach another milestone, celebrating his 94th birthday on 18th July and the Department of Basic Education and the Nelson Mandela Foundation has joined forces to celebrate the icon's life by improving the lives of the people of South Africa, particularly the young people and children.
The 94+ Projects for Madiba campaign has identified the renovation of school buildings; installation of water and sanitation facilities; construction of admin blocks; fencing of schools; provision of desks and chairs and the provision of kitchen units as priorities for all the 94 identified schools.
Where possible, libraries and laboratories will also be provided, as well as landscaping and gardening to create an environment that teachers and learners want to spend time in and can enjoy.
Briefing the media after a regular Cabinet meeting, Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane said various principals were also pledging their support, by adopting their former schools or any of the schools identified in the campaign.
He encouraged young people to participate actively and whole-heartedly in the campaign.
Cabinet noted that all South Africans are being invited to join millions of learners in singing the Mandela Birthday Song at 08h00 on Wednesday, 18 July 2012.
Although Government has made massive inroads into reducing the backlogs in infrastructure since 2000, there are still huge gaps in infrastructure towards providing quality learning and teaching environments for all learners.
According to the Department of Basic Education, at least 26% of public schools are in a very poor condition; physical infrastructure and other school resources have not kept up with the requirements of recent curricula reforms.
The United Nations has also declared the 18th as international Mandela Day to inspire individuals all over the world to take action and help change the world for the better, and in so doing build a global movement for good; to inspire communities everywhere to - Take Action; Inspire Change; Make Every Day a Mandela Day.
