Cape Town - A group of children from two Cape Flats daycare centres were given a real treat in celebration on Mandela Day on Monday.
The Cape Argus, Weekend Argus and GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World banded together to honour democratic South Africa’s first president by sharing the values of hope, prosperity and humanity with those he believed were the future leaders of South Africa, its children.
This special initiative saw children from the Little Flowers Daycare and Kelly’s Daycare on the Cape Flats enjoy cake, treats, a Spur lunch and watch the latest minion’s movie “Minions: The Rise of Gru”.
The day’s activities were made possible by the CineCentre, Silver Dollar Spur, GrandWest, Colapathy and Checkers.
The Cape Argus’s previous Mandela Day event held was in 2019 when the focus was on South Africa’s young people. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, events could not be held in 2020 and last year.
Cape Argus editor Aziz Hartley said this made yesterday’s Mandela Day event even more special. He thanked all the partners that came on board to support it.
“It is common knowledge that Mandela loved children. One way of honouring him today is to do something for the children, something that brings joy and puts a smile on their faces.
“We have a lot to learn from Madiba’s legacy and one of the things we can do to honour him is to instil his values in our children and plant the seeds of humanity,” Hartley said.
Cape Argus marketing and brand officer Olwethu Bhozo said they sought to instil a message of hope and love in readers and in their children.
“Mandela Day signifies hope, love and all the values that Madiba stood for – that is why Independent Media gets involved in these initiatives, not only on this day but throughout the year,” Bhozo said.
Kelly’s Daycare principal Beverley Rossouw said their children could not contain their excitement to travel and enjoy this special Mandela Day treat that focused on stimulating their minds and joy instead of the troubles their community faced.
The children’s merriment resonated throughout GrandWest.
“This is such an important day and we need to educate our children more about what has been happening in the past and why this day is so significant,” Rossouw said.
Little Flowers Daycare owner Marcia Williams said: “Our children are super-excited to participate today – we have been established for 14 years and this is the first time that we were invited to partake in an initiative like this for Mandela Day.”
GrandWest general manager Mervyn Naidoo said they were involved in numerous projects concerning arts, culture, health, and education in under-resourced communities and, thus, jumped on board this initiative when they were approached.
“Being part of the community is part of the very ethos on which GrandWest was built. We were built from raising funds from the community. Being part of the community here, and having a presence in communities like Mitchells Plain, has been a sole focus of ours since the day GrandWest was established,” Naidoo said.
Said Hartley: “In this day and age, where there are so many socio-economic challenges that our communities face and the problems the country faces, we should look for the light moments – today is one of them.”