Minister Molewa honours Mandela the environmentalist

Friday, July 22, 2016

Cape Town – Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa says many people did not know that former President Nelson Mandela was also an environmentalist, who advocated for conservation issues.

The Minister said this when she visited the Mseki Primary School on Friday as part of Nelson Mandela Month activities. She painted the school, donated desks, school bags and uniforms to the school.

“We are here to celebrate and have a good memory where we talk about Tata so that the younger generation must always continue to remember and know who he was and what he stood for – our world leader and our world icon.

“We are also here today to link education to the environment. For those who did not know, Tata was actually an environmentalist. He just knew exactly how to talk conservation, talk preservation of some of the species that may be extinct and it is for that reason that today as a country, we have such good laws in the environment, starting from the Constitution,” she said.

Nelson Mandela Month of activities are held throughout the month of July to commemorate the memory of the former statesman, whose birthday was on 18 July. The United Nations declared the day Nelson Mandela International Day in 2008.

As part of nationwide celebrations, South Africans from all walks of life are urged to dedicate 67 minutes of their time to contribute to a worthy cause through their time or donations that will help improve the quality of life of those in need.

Ahead of the Minister’s visit, the department hosted a two-day Environmental Science Careers Expo in Gugulethu township earlier this week. The expo was aimed at affording young people in the area an opportunity to learn more about career opportunities within the environment sector and bursaries offered by government through the department and its entities.

The department also rolled-out a clean-up campaign to create awareness about waste management issues within the community to ensure that communities take responsibility for the cleanliness of their surrounding environment.

Speaking to journalists after painting the school, the Minister said the former President made sure that there was a clause in the Constitution that promotes conservation.

“Many of our people don’t quite know why we have section 24 of the Constitution that protects the environment and conserve it for future generations,” she said.

Linking education to environmental issues

The Minister said, meanwhile, that she decided to paint the school as a gesture to show that Tata loved education and he really loved children to study at a place that is very decent.

She said this, along with the handing over of desks, brings about dignity to those that did not have desks.

She later interacted with the learners from the primary school, where she urged them to not only aim to be lawyers when they grow up, but to also consider following a career linked to environmental issues.

After visiting the school, the Minister later interacted with Gugulethu residents at the local indoor sports complex, where she also handed out blankets to elderly citizens. – SAnews.gov.za