RWCLM roll up sleeves on Mandela Day

All hands were on deck, and sleeves were rolled up on Thursday, 18 July, when the Executive Mayor of the Rand West City Local Municipality, councillor Dumile Sithole, and his staff members marked Mandela Day in Bekkersdal.

Sithole visited three schools – Maputle Primary, Seatile Primary and Itumeleng Primary, and the Bekkersdal Police Station for repainting and revamping on the day.

The work done by the Mayor, who had partnered with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), and Lawmab Consulting, left the schools’ bathrooms spick and span.

“We are celebrating Nelson Mandela Day with the GDE by trying to improve the schools’ infrastructure, particularly the sanitation in these schools,” the Mayor said.

He said since it had been established that more than 1 000 children in these schools rely on the ablution systems, it was important to make sure that such facilities are kept neat and germ-free.

“We undertook to ensure that all the urinals, toilets, and related facilities are in proper condition.”

The Mayor said in order to carry this move forward, the GDE will run a pilot project, during which young people will be trained to care for school infrastructure within Rand West City.

“On Fridays, a deep-cleaning programme that will run until Sundays, will be instituted, to make sure that come Mondays, all the facilities are refreshed.

“We want to keep the infrastructure in a proper condition, because we are trying to improve the entire value system of education.”

He said as part of celebrating Mandela Day, the municipality aimed to express its gratitude for what Mandela had stood for.

“We are simply showing our gratitude to him for fighting for our freedom and our Constitution. At the same time, we are giving hope to those who are less fortunate.

“We want to tell them that the future might look bleak, but it can still change as we instill hope in them in the name of Tata Madiba,” Sithole added.