Dti employees to donate wheelchairs to children's home

Thursday, July 12, 2018

As South Africa and the world gear up to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 100th year, the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) will donate two wheelchairs to a children’s home in Bronkhorspruit.

Employees of the dti are set to donate the wheelchairs to the Sizanani Children’s Home in Bronkhorspruit as part of the Mandela centenary celebrations next Wednesday.

Located in Nkangala township, Sizanani Children’s Home was founded in 1993 by Roman Catholic Church Priest Father Charles Kuppelweiser.

The home is a non-profit organisation catering for 66 orphaned and abandoned children and youth between the ages of four and 34 years with severe to profound physical and intellectual disabilities.

After members of the dti’s Disability Forum visited the home, they took it upon themselves to continue being agents of change by procuring wheelchairs and requesting other employees to assist with non-perishable food, toiletries, cleaning material and laundry chemicals to aid the children.

Government has declared 18 July 2018 a National Day of Service.

This year’s 18th of July, said government, will not be observed as a regular International Mandela Day, where citizens across the globe donate 67 minutes of their time performing only acts of good deeds to those in need. It will be used as an opportunity to remember the time in which transformation gained traction in South Africa and celebrate the man who made a meaningful contribution.

Mandela, who died on 5 December 2013, at the age of 95, would have turned 100 years on 18 July had he lived. - SAnews.gov.za