Johannesburg - Mandela Day was a busy day as officials, South Africans and organisations lived up to the principles and values of Nelson Mandela by doing their bit for the Struggle icon.
While President Cyril Ramaphosa spent Mandela Day unveiling former statesman Nelson Mandela’s two statues in the Eastern Cape and deputy president Paul Mashatile spent time celebrating the day with learners of Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) presided over the screening of Nelson Mandela’s favourite folk tales in Killarney, north of Johannesburg.
It was indeed a busy day for most South Africans as many organisations and individuals lived by the principles and values of Mandela, doing their bit for 67 minutes in his honour.
The NFVF, the KZN Film Commission, and other stakeholders presided over the launch of the award-winning Nelson Mandela African Folktales miniseries, which was accompanied by the screening of some of these short stories at the Avalon CineCentre at Killarney Mall.
The launch of the series, made up of stories told by Mandela as a young boy at his home in Qunu, comes on the heels of a similar launch in Durban ahead of Nelson Mandela Day.
"The series continues to shine globally, as the nominations and awards received are testaments that we produced stories that needed to be told to the world," said film-maker Claudia Noble-Areff.
In the meantime, to emphasise the importance of safe hygiene management and promotion, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Dettol took their “Protect Mzansi” hygiene education out of their comfort zone to the remote community of Orange Farm as part of their ongoing collaborative efforts to eradicate unsafe hygiene habits.
Officials from the two companies visited Lusemanzi Day Care Centre on the day to educate the children about the importance of good hand hygiene in curbing diseases and current outbreaks such as cholera and diarrhoea. They demonstrated to the young learners the 11 steps to handwashing via a song and dance routine.
In light of the recent cholera outbreak in places such as Hammanskraal, the North West and the Free State, Masibonge Mkhize, head of corporate and external affairs at Reckitt, the company that manufactures Dettol and other products, had woken up to proactive approaches to instilling better hygiene practises, especially among young people.
"We've collaborated with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to be able to reach early child development centres across South Africa at large, and today we're in Orange Farm in light of this to honour International Nelson Mandela Day.
"Orange Farm is one of the communities in the south of Johannesburg where we felt that there was a gap, not only from an educational perspective but also for being able to reach beyond the cornerstones that we aim for. It's only natural for us to go to your Sowetos, where Tata Mandela is from, or your Alexandra, which is too close to comfort in Sandton. But today, we felt we needed to step outside of our jurisdiction into an area where we would not only be challenged, but also feel and see the essence of Ubuntu in the communities that we serve," she said.
The Star