In celebrating Mandela Day in Potchefstroom, the premier of the NW, Supra Mahumapelo has urged the 3.6 million inhabitants of North West to honour Mandela by following on his path of reconciliation.
Mahumapelo launched the RHR (Reconciliation, Healing and Renewal) charter at the Madiba Banquet Halls and says all citizens must contribute towards the charter by assessing how they live their daily lives and contributing positively to the other people’s lives. ‘If each and every one of us does this, we will achieve reconciliation, healing and renewal’, he said.
‘The Apartheid Government harassed, throttled and jailed Nelson Mandela for 27 years but he came out not as a bitter man, but a person who wanted reconciliation. We must continue on this path of love and peace. It is not an easy road but generation after generation must pursue it.
‘This is the Canaan of a united South Africa that is united, democratic, non-discriminatory and non-racial.’
The North West premier, Supra Mahumapelo flanked by the executive mayor of NW405 also went to Ikhaya La Bantwana orphanage in Ikageng where he handed out gifts and listened to their pleas for a shelter.
Ikhaya La Bantwana orphanage is run by Grandma Joyce Mase Ntsizi, who looks after about 25 children between the ages of one and eighteen. Sixty-year-old Joyce cares for these children in her own house and her wish is to find a bigger place for the children she calls her own.
Mahumapelo promised to assist the Ntsizi in getting a proper shelter for the kids. Other delegates went to the Love and Peace old age home and clinics in Ikageng before paying a visit to a 102-year-old grandfather whose house was rebuilt by the province after it burnt down earlier this year.
The premier’s visit ended at the Ikageng stadium where 67 candles were lit and a prayer went up in honour of Nelson Mandela.
