South African Students Congress closes Nelson Mandela Month with a successful community engagement program in Midrand – 31 July 2017
Following from the National General Council which mandated all structures of the organisation from branches, regions, provinces and the NEC to abide by all four pillars of our organisation the campus work, community work, international work, policy and ideological work as stipulated in our SPOT document.
We remain committed to our revolutionary conviction that we are members of the community before we are students thus our community work pillar mandates us to be involved in all community-based programs and awareness campaigns.
Cognizant of the fact that students struggles are not immune from the community, the NEC led from the front by participating in Mandela activities on the 18th of July. We did this as part of our 67 minutes of community work in honour of our revolutionary stalwart Isithwalandwe uTata Nelson Mandela, a man who dedicated his entire life for the total liberation of our people amidst the harshness and brutality of the then regime.
Inspired by his vision and love for the people, SASCO continued to bring joy and happiness to the children of the working class and poor. We partnered with Keletso NPO involved with health, education and skill development. They helped us identify underprivileged school kids around Midrand, and we mobilised sponsorship for their winter schools uniforms, these included quality school bags, jerseys, shoes and socks. A total of 150 beneficiaries from the following primary and secondary benefited; David Makhubo Secondary School n Kaalfontein Primary School, Drake Koka Primary School, Ebony Park Primary School, Oracle Secondary School, Tsosoloso Sec School, Delsie September Combined School, Halfway House Primary and Seli Laka Primary School.
We remain thankful to the generosity of Mr Mimo from Haulier logistics, who supported the initiative by sponsoring the purchase of these school uniform to the value of more than R100 000. We hope that our relationship with philanthropist like your good selves will continue and inspire more private sector funding to student formations engaged in changing our peoples’ lives.
We also wish to thank the collective leadership of Keletso NPO under the leadership of chairman Martin Malefetsane and his collective for doing amazing work with no resources and yet possible to impact on the life of the poor. Lastly, we wish to thank Mr L Mazwi, the principal of Sedi Laka Primarily School where the event was held. We are grateful to him for hosting us and providing us with a venue to have the activity, as well as the teachers from all the schools which benefited, and everyone who co-operated not only with us but with Keletso NPO to ensure that learners identified can make it to the activity, with their parents.
Nelson Mandela said‚ education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world‚Äù These profound words serves as an inspiration for us to continue the fight for our revolutionary mission without fail and deliver free quality education to unlock the future from the bondage of neo-liberalism.
We encourage our structures to keep up with the good work as we enter into the second semester, we must leave no stone unturned, fight exclusions and enhance access to our institutions.
Issues on behalf of the NEC by:
Thabo Moloja -President
Tembani Makata -SG