Deputy President Paul Mashatile has described Nelson Mandela Day as a call to action for all citizens to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate.
The Deputy President was leading the commemoration of Nelson Mandela Day at the Morris Isaacson High School at Jabavu in Soweto on Tuesday.
The day is an annual global celebration in honour of Former President and struggle icon Nelson Mandela.
This year, the day was observed under the theme ‘Climate, Food and Solidarity’ – in a call to respond to the impact of climate change, addressing the challenges of poverty and inequality.
“Nelson Mandela Day – when it was founded by the United Nations – was to say that on this day, for even a few minutes, do something to better the life of others. On Nelson Mandela Day, we work,” he said.
Addressing learners at the school, Deputy President Mashatile explained the importance of choosing the Morris Isaacson High School as the site of this year’s celebrations.
“We chose to come to your school because today we’ll be honouring Tsietsi Mashinini. We thought it’s important to come to the school where he used to attend.
“You are following on the footsteps of a very important cadre of our movement. Tsietsi Mashinini and his generation started the protest in 1976 against Afrikaans. But it was not just against Afrikaans; it was the beginning of a struggle to bring about not only better education but a better South Africa.
“So we are today in this South Africa because of…the work of Tsietsi Mashinini, the struggles that he fought with his generation made us to be where we are today. So we honour them and that generation of young leaders who went to the front and said: We will bring about change in this country,” he said.
The Deputy President planted seeds at the school for a vegetable patch which is envisioned to give vegetables for the school and learners who need it most.
He also laid a wreath at the Tsietsi Mashinini memorial. – SAnews.gov.za
