Johannesburg - Deputy President Paul Mashatile put a smile on the faces of young people in Soweto as part of his contribution to Mandela Day activities yesterday.
Mashatile started his Mandela Day activities at Morris Isaacson High School, where he presented the school with a number of gifts in collaboration with a number of organisations, including Clinix health group.
The founder of the health group, Dr Khamane Obed Peter Matseke, was also present during the activities.
The group specialises in affordable private healthcare, especially in the townships.
Among the gifts donated to the school were school shoes, chairs, paint and paint brushes.
Mashatile planted trees at the school before heading out of the school to lay a wreath at Tsietsi Mashinini’s memorial statue. He then proceeded to the Soweto Home for the Aged, where he interacted with the elderly.
He was welcomed to Morris Isaacson High School with loud cheers from the learners. He apologised to the learners and urged them do their best in the last half of the school calendar.
“We chose to come to your school because today we will be honouring Tsietsi Mashinini, and we thought it was important to come to the school where he used to go. You are following in the footsteps of a very important cadre of our movement,” Mashatile said.
The deputy president told learners that Mandela Day was a day when each person was encouraged to spare a thought for their fellow man and the environment.
“When Nelson Mandela Day was founded by the UN, it said on this day for a number of minutes, even if it’s just an hour, do something to better the lives of others,” Mashatile said.
He gave the learners some political education about the importance of the BRICS Summit, which is due to take place in South Africa later this year.
“The leaders of BRICS have started an important meeting in South Africa with the political leaders. This meeting is going to end a day after tomorrow; it’s a three-day meeting,” Mashatile said.
According to Mashatile, there were other African nations that were interested in becoming part of BRICS. He told the learners that this was a good thing.
“We must continue to work together as BRICS countries. The good news is that there are now other countries that want to join BRICS. So we have invited leaders from different parts of the continent,” he said.
Mashatile ended the day at Matseke High School in Orlando West, where he was also greeted by learners who were excited to see him. He ended the day with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Mandela House on Vilakazi Street.
The Star