27/07/2022
MEDIA STATEMENT
Date: 26 July 2022
THE CHAIR OF CHAIRS IN THE CITY OF JOBURG CELEBRATES UNCELEBRATED HEROES
The office of the Chair of Chairs in the city of Johannesburg, Cllr Colleen Makhubele together with her SEC.79 Chairpersons of Committees in the Council of the City of honored unsung heroes as part of Nelson Mandela month on Friday,22nd July 2022.
The event which was held under this year's Mandela day theme: "Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are", and “Mintirho ya Vulavula” was meant for celebrating, acknowledging, and paying respect to citizens who have played their part in bringing a difference in other citizens' lives.
The event started at the Alexandra Disability Movement in Region E where Cllr Makhubele together with SEC.79 Chairpersons took part in gardening and painting the walls at the organization.
In her message, the Chair of Chairs said, “Gardening teaches us to do things for ourselves so that we can also feed our families".
She says the idea for gardening is to instill the mentality of being producers in children, youth, and elderly people, and to practice this, she brought along her two sons and their friends to the event.
Cllr Makhubele continued by saying, "uTata Nelson Mandela and other struggle activists played their part, and the question which remains with us is, what are we going to do now?”
During the second phase of the project activities celebrating uncelebrated heroes at Paterson Park Hall, Cllr Makhubele honored heroes such as Mama Antoinette Sithole who is the sister to the late Hector Pieterson, who took the gathering back to the 1976 Soweto student's uprising which contained painful moments where she realized that her brother was injured in the subsequent police shooting of unarmed protesters.
June 16 activist, who was the youngest during the student struggle Seth Mazibuko, brought tears and joy to the attendees as he elaborated on heartbreaking events including getting arrested at the age of 16 and being sent to Robben Island where he spent 18 months in solitary confinement.
“What I regret most on that day is having led students out of their classrooms only to be killed by the police. It hurts the most now that on June 16, you have young people getting to the stadium, getting to decks to jive over death and seeing them in full school uniform drunk,” lamented Mazibuko.
Mazibuko urged the youth and everyone to gather stones for building this beautiful country.
Among other Uncelebrated Heroes were the former Gauteng SAPS former spokesperson Kay Makhubele, Mr. Enos Mafokate, former acting for JMPD Angie Mokasi, and the June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation.
Cllr Makhubele has thanked all those who honored her invite including members of the Media, stakeholders, sponsors, and other leaders.
Issued by :
Chair of Chairs Communications Specialist
Lieketseng Tabi
060 5427 405
CoJ Chairpersons City of Johannesburg Legislature
