The Liberated Metalworkers Union of South Africa (LIMUSA) will be spending time with children at prince Mshiyeni hospital in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) as part of our Mandela day activities.

We want to reignite the spirit of Nelson Mandela on his centenary birthday. We understand that Madiba was passionate about children, and that to him children were the hope and future of any society. We take our queue from Nelson Mandela’s words that “our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth who care for and protect our people” (3 June 1995).

As we celebrate and remember Nelson Mandela, to us it is a reminder that even though much has been done, a lot more still needs to be done. We understand that children should be allowed their time to play, to learn and to be taught, and most importantly to be children. It is Nelson Mandela who taught us that “the children who sleep in the streets, reduced to begging to make a living, are a testimony to an unfinished job. The families who live in shacks with no running water, sanitation and electricity are a reminder that the past continues to haunt the present” (28 July 1996).

LIMUSA will therefore spend the entire day with children in Prince Mshiyeni Hospital in KZN. The details of the programme are as follows:

Place : Prince Mshiyeni Hospital
Date : 18 July 2018
Time : 11:00 – 13:00 (Midday)
Activity : visiting, gifts and storytelling

The media is hereby invited to cover and join LIMUSA in this activity. Children, like Madiba once said, “are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation” (22 November 1997).

Issued by LIMUSA.

For more information contact:

Dloze Matooane (Media and Communications Officer)
065 819 6793 or email: dloze.matooane@limusa.org