‘Mr Mandela’ – last tickets

POLOKWANE – People hoping to attend the breakfast event where Zelda la Grange, Nelson Mandela’s former personal assistant and devoted friend, will be a speaker should ensure that they purchase tickets well ahead of time as space is limited and no tickets will be sold on the day.

La Grange will be the guest of honour at the Pathways Appreciation Breakfast, which will take place at the Protea Hotel Ranch Resort at 09:00 on Saturday.

Pathways Polokwane is a non-profit stimulation centre for children with disabilities. The organisation provides educational programmes and bursaries for their Enrichment Centre to children who need it most.

The Pathways Appreciation Breakfast is an inspirational event and an excellent opportunity for personal enrichment and for corporate entities who want to treat special clients.

La Grange grew up in Pretoria. After she completed her studies, she joined the department of state expenditure and worked in the human resources division.

She joined the president’s office as senior ministerial typist in 1994 and became Mandela’s head of logistics.

Working closely with various government departments, she coordinated Mandela’s itinerary, travel arrangements and security, and also accompanied him on domestic and international visits when needed.

According to La Grange, she was officially appointed as one of Mandela’s three private secretaries in 1997 and, upon his retirement in May 1999, remained in his service.

Zelda served Mandela as personal assistant on a part-time basis since his retirement from public life in 2008.

She embarked on several other initiatives in his honour, notably Bikers for Mandela Day, an initiative through which she pays tribute to Mandela by doing community work and encouraging others to do the same.

She is also involved in several other civil society initiatives and was awarded by a number of institutions for her commitment, loyalty and de-dication to Mandela over the 18 years that she worked for him.

She spends much of her time encouraging young people to find and pursue their passion in life.

In her talk at the Pathways event, Zelda will share her experiences and world view with guests.

She will explain how her experiences impacted her life and encourage others to serve their communities with commitment in order to realise their full potential.

Zelda will also speak about her book, Good Morning, Mr Mandela, that was released in June.

Organiser of The Pathways Appreciation Breakfast, Sally Hansen from S Hansen and Associates, said this would be an event to celebrate the women of Limpopo during Women’s Month, August. “We will acknowledge and celebrate the phenomenal creation that woman are as well as the contribution they make to our society, community and families,” she said.

“We at Pathways are in awe of the strength of the mothers of disabled children who have to face so many challenges and burdens. For this reason we are launching this project.”

Hansen said they aimed to treat their guests to a dynamic event taking them away from the burdens and troubles of life. The event is to enable women to leave motivated, enriched and stronger to go back into their everyday lives with passion, she said.

“We decided to get Zelda to speak as she is full of passion for life and talks about caring. She is a very good speaker. You have to have meaning in life to support those less fortunate and that is what Zelda shares. That is also the reason we chose Pathways. You get blessed when you give back.”

She thanked Tom and Vicky Shearer for their hospitality as they would play hosts to the event at the Protea Hotel Ranch Resort.

“Our sincere thanks are further extended to all contributing towards the costs of the event.”

All funds raised from the event go to Pathways Polokwane.

Tickets cost R300 per person or R3 000 for a table of 10. This includes an excellent breakfast and Zelda la Grange’s motivational presentation.

Tickets are available at:

• Mitchell House.

• S Hansen and Associates at 33 Plein Street.

• DHL Express on the corner of Marshall and Dorp Street.

• Greener Tidings at The Farmyard.

“We have about 10 tables left and are concerned that people may just arrive on Saturday without bought tickets. This is a corporate opportunity for special clients and businesses. No tickets will be sold on the day and only guests with tickets will be allowed access to the venue. Tickets are limited. Do not miss this special event,” Hansen further said.

A limited number of books “Good Morning Mr Mandela” personally signed by La Grange will be available at the breakfast at R300 per book

Requests for corporate invoices can be sent by fax to (015) 291 5180 or by e-mail to sally@shansen.co.za or sarah@shansen.co.za.

For further information contact (015) 295 5292/5843.