New leaders being bred in Alex
ALEXANDRA - A new breed of enlightened cadres is being developed in Alexandra.
Alexandra is leading the way in breeding a new cadre of enlightened community activists and leaders.
A second batch of 18 paralegal community activists and leaders graduated from a six-month Constitutional Law Course organised by the Constitutional Court Clerks Alumni Association. This was in partnership with law firm, Edward, Nathan and Sonnenbergs, that has a satellite office at the Sankopano Centre in Alexandra.
The course aims to groom community leaders and arm them with legal tools to face the new challenges of a post-apartheid South Africa.
“Few people know their rights and responsibilities under our new constitutional state and this is why the Constitutional Court and law firm deem it necessary to arm these activists with paralegal skills that will help them on debating issues and the constitutional challenges faced by the ordinary men and women in the streets,” said Kim Robinson, CEO of Renaissance Strategic Solutions, the facilitating company of the course.
One of the graduates and a Community Policing Forum member, Benjamin Chisali said a new way of social dialogue would soon evolve in the township as a result of the development of a new breed of enlightened cadres. “We are now going to go back to our community to ensure that the peaceful co-existence among ourselves will be clearly defined by the understanding of the constitution which is our supreme law of the land,” he said.
“Today we are going back to our communities to deepen advocacy and awareness that the total achievement of a non-sexist and non-racist and prosperous South Africa is a journey in progress. We are blessed in Alexandra in that in a few years time the number of such graduates from human rights and constitutional law classes is going to grow and give the township a new look of activism.”
Another graduate, Sello Manyape described his colleagues as the first seeds that were being planted in this fertile soil and urged them to go on to flower and flourish. Colleague and journalist Ramathomo wa Mathomong said he would like to pursue additional legal courses which would help him further his career.
