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In response to the call to action, health workers, including doctors and medical specialists from Gauteng hospitals are doing the only thing they know, as they join the globe in commemorating International Mandela Day. 

The health workers from 32 Gauteng health facilities are currently participating in a massive surgical marathon, where over 700 elective surgeries will be conducted on patients who have been on the waiting list. 

Gauteng Health Department spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, said the surgical marathons aim to reduce the backlogs currently facing the province, when it comes to surgeries. 

“At the beginning of the year, we had 32 000 awaiting surgical procedures, and as we speak, we’ve managed to reduce the backlog to about 18 000 patients awaiting surgical procedures [and today] we are going to be doing 700 surgeries across our service platforms. 

“These patients have been chosen according to surgical backlog lists at every hospital, and incorporates waiting time and prioritisation according to clinical needs. The aim is to see how far we can push this so that even beyond the Mandela Day, we are able to continue running these surgical marathons,” Modiba said.

He said as part of the marathons, a number of surgical procedures, including arthroplasty, hernia repair, maxillofacial, hysterectomy, cataract excision, prostate biopsy, colostomy closures, caesarean section and circumcision, amongst others, are being conducted today.

Modiba emphasised that the surgical marathons are more than just reducing the backlogs, but most importantly, “they are about restoring dignity to hundreds of patients whose lives have been impacted by their medical condition.”

“The clinicians who will be performing these surgeries are specialists in the various disciplines and their teams consist of registrars, medical officers, scrub nurses and other support staff, including porters and cleaners who are all vital in the success of the surgical marathons,” Modiba said.

Modiba said the major drive to reduce surgery backlogs follows major surgical breakthroughs such as the first heart surgery for Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital; brain surgical procedures at Sebokeng Regional Hospital and the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy for Bertha Gxowa District Hospital.

“There has been a concerted effort to also use this opportunity to expand the capacity to perform surgical procedures across various facilities, including attending to infrastructural issues and the beatification of the general environment at hospitals,” he said. 

In preparation for the surgical marathons, he said, the department has ensured functional theatres in participating 32 hospitals, and provincial laundry services have also been working around the clock to ensure that there is adequate supply of clean linen at surgical wards on the day. 

Steve Biko performs critical surgeries for children with tonsillitis 

Professor Mashudu Tshifularo, from Steve Biko Academic Hospital, said through the marathon, the hospital will be able to reduce the backlog of critical surgeries of children with tonsillitis.

He said the hospital is planning to do 10 surgeries at level 6 theatre.

Professor Tshifularo said there is a big backlog of critical children with a problem of tonsils, which cannot be done in other regional hospitals, as it needs speciality treatment, leaving the hospital with a lot of complicated cases. 

“This Mandela Day, we are going to do at least 10 patients for a start, and then we will continue in other days to relieve the backlog because our backlog is very big, seating to almost 200. The backlog is due to the [available] theatre days and sometimes we don’t have the available space to do the compression,” Tshifularo said. 

He added that Mandela Day is critical for the hospital, and “we are excited to participate in the idea of making the impact and making a difference in somebody else's life.”

“We are looking forward and we are encouraging you to get involved in which area where you are because, unless we can do it ourselves no else can do it for us. Let’s go there and do it in whatever field you are,” Tshifularo said.

International Nelson Mandela Day is commemorated annually on 18 July and calls for people to devote 67 minutes of their time to positively impact communities and the lives of people. 

This year marks 10 years since the death of Nelson Mandela. 

To commemorate the former statesman's life, the Nelson Mandela Foundation has themed the 10 year remembrance call to action “The Legacy Lives on Through You”.

Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko is visiting numerous hospitals to provide support to the various teams preforming the surgical procedures. – SAnews.gov.za
 

Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, has encouraged South Africans to secure food supply through their home or community food gardens as climate change threatens to reverse the progress the country has made towards eradicating hunger and malnutrition.

“Apart from climate change, the economic constraints make it increasingly difficult for people to put food on their tables and especially the most vulnerable in our society often go to bed without having a meal for the day,” the Minister said on Tuesday.

De Lille expressed concern that 29 years since the dawn of democracy, many families and children struggle to get food and often go days without a meal.

She made these remarks as she participated in the Mandela Day activities by visiting impoverished communities in Riemvasmaak in the ZF Mgcawu District Municipality in the Northern Cape.

“As a country, across all sectors, we simply must do more. We need to go beyond Mandela Day and 67 minutes, but look for ways each day to serve and help those in need.

“Whether it is planting seeds or making a sandwich for someone in need on our daily journeys, every small act of service is a reflection of humanity and our morals,” the Minister said.

This year, Mandela Day takes place under the theme Climate, Food and Solidarity, with the call to action being, “It is in your hands” to take action against climate change.

“There is so much more we can do in our daily lives to feed a hungry person. Our gestures need not be grand but any small offer of service or donation we can make will mean the world to someone in need.

“Unpacking clothing or blankets no longer being used and donating it to someone in need, is the wave of warmth we need more of to bring comfort and hope to those living in despair,” de Lille said.

Mandela Day is an annual global celebration that takes place on 18 July to honour the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela. This day is a call to action for individuals, communities and organisations to take time to reflect on the former statesman's values and principles and to make a positive impact in their own communities.

“As the National Department of Tourism, we are working closely with the provincial department and the Northern Cape Tourism Authority on various projects and we will continue to support tourism development for all areas of the Northern Cape as one of the most unique and awe-inspiring holiday destinations in our country.

“It is in our hands and we must take hands and work closer with communities to bring about economic development that will truly free all our people from poverty and hunger.

“Mandela’s life and sacrifices should be a reminder and motivator to all of us each day to serve with humility and help bring progress in any way we can to ensure all people in South Africa taste the fruits of our democracy,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has described Nelson Mandela Day as a call to action for all citizens to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate.

The Deputy President was leading the commemoration of Nelson Mandela Day at the Morris Isaacson High School at Jabavu in Soweto on Tuesday.

The day is an annual global celebration in honour of Former President and struggle icon Nelson Mandela.

This year, the day was observed under the theme ‘Climate, Food and Solidarity’ – in a call to respond to the impact of climate change, addressing the challenges of poverty and inequality.

“Nelson Mandela Day – when it was founded by the United Nations – was to say that on this day, for even a few minutes, do something to better the life of others. On Nelson Mandela Day, we work,” he said.

Addressing learners at the school, Deputy President Mashatile explained the importance of choosing the Morris Isaacson High School as the site of this year’s celebrations.

“We chose to come to your school because today we’ll be honouring Tsietsi Mashinini. We thought it’s important to come to the school where he used to attend.

“You are following on the footsteps of a very important cadre of our movement. Tsietsi Mashinini and his generation started the protest in 1976 against Afrikaans. But it was not just against Afrikaans; it was the beginning of a struggle to bring about not only better education but a better South Africa.

“So we are today in this South Africa because of…the work of Tsietsi Mashinini, the struggles that he fought with his generation made us to be where we are today. So we honour them and that generation of young leaders who went to the front and said: We will bring about change in this country,” he said.

The Deputy President planted seeds at the school for a vegetable patch which is envisioned to give vegetables for the school and learners who need it most.

He also laid a wreath at the Tsietsi Mashinini memorial. – SAnews.gov.za

President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled two statues of the late former President Nelson Mandela, one in Mthatha and the other in Qunu in the Eastern Cape, as part of Nelson Mandela Day celebrations.

The two statues unveiled at Bhunga Building in Mthatha and Youth and Heritage Centre in Qunu, serve as a tribute to Nelson Mandela's enduring impact on South Africa and the world.

They further commemorate the 67 years he dedicated to the fight against apartheid and racism.

Unveiling the statue in Qunu, President Ramaphosa noted that while there are many monuments paying tribute to Madiba across South Africa, as well as across Africa and many parts of the world, for South Africans to be able to honour the father of our nation at his place of birth, meant a lot.

The President said the making of the statues was something that government has been working towards for some time.

“Since 2021 the Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resource Agency, the Mandela family, the Nelson Mandela Museum and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture have been driving this process – a process that included public consultation,” President Ramaphosa said.

The statue in Mthatha depicts Madiba in the role for which he was most well-known, a statesman, while the statue in Qunu depicts him in the attire of his Xhosa-Tembu culture, “reminding us of the traditional values he lived by and that shaped his consciousness”.

“It is our hope that this homage to Madiba in his final resting place will serve as an inspiration, especially to the young people in the community. It is to remind you that the seeds of greatness lie dormant within each one of us, and that it is up to us to make them germinate and bloom.

“It is to remind you that being born in a rural area, or having humble beginnings, is no obstacle to achieving greatness, and to fulfilling your destiny. It is to remind us of all our duty to do what we can to make the world a better place,” President Ramaphosa said.

He said the two statues were beacons of hope to individuals and communities that were still suffering from the evils of marginalisation and the scourges of poverty, inequality and underdevelopment.

“Monuments, statues and museums have a key role to play in the political and cultural life of any country. They are a means of giving recognition to those who suffered hardship, repression, exile, or death in pursuit of universal ideals such as human freedom. 

“Monuments such as this one is the struggle of memory against forgetting. This statue should serve as reminder to those of us elected to serve the South African people that we must redouble our efforts to build a better South Africa that leaves no-one behind,” President Ramaphosa said.

The President called on the people of Qunu to protect and look after the sites of memorialisation and commemoration, adding that he has no doubt they have the potential to attract tourists, which will in turn support business and job creation. 

He encouraged South Africans to do their bit of good today by dedicating 67 minutes to performing acts of goodwill towards others, as part of making the world a better place.

“Madiba built bridges of peace and mobilised people of the world to fight against social injustice and oppression. Let us strive to emulate his example, today and every day,” the President said. – SAnews.gov.za

 

Minister for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has called on young people to lead the charge against all forms of exploitation.

“You need to imagine a society where everyone has basic socio-economic security. You also have the intellectual responsibility to break society from their seeming acceptance of rentier capitalism as an accepted orthodoxy,” Dlamini Zuma said on Tuesday.

The Minister was addressing the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Youth Summit in Durban, which was attended by BRICS Youth leaders in Durban.

She encouraged young people to establish an alternative public banking and finance system that will fund development initiatives.

“I expect your summit to reimagine an Alternative Banking and Financing Architecture for the global south. Productive societies require productive sectors of the economy, industrialised around manufactured finished goods and away from the shipping of raw materials.

“We currently have a structural problem of a banking industry that is not only greatly concentrated and monopolised, but also in many ways does not serve our interests. Those who prefer us shipping raw materials will not fund our manufacturing plants. They will not fund a rail system that connects the content for the movement of people, goods and services.

“The New Development Bank is thus a step in the right direction but we need to domesticate alternative banking as a matter of urgency,” the Minister said.

She warned that without control over finance and banking, only those projects that converge with the interest of private interests will be funded while the interests of the communities takes a backseat.

“As BRICS Youth Leaders, you are responsible for writing a new developmental script, which must include a blueprint for integration and interconnection of people and systems across the BRICS nations and its partners.

“Integration should mean integrated Finance, Information and communication technologies (ICT) for communication, trading, and accessibility of public health services by bridging the distance between national systems.

“Our integrated ICT strategies should connect our youth digitally, enable cultural exchanges and leverage the power and ability of the creative industry to generate millions of jobs across BRICS,” the Minister said.

She described the space that young people were in as the verge of a geopolitical revolution, which will jolt the global community from its slumber.

“What we make of BRICS and what becomes of this alliance has the potential to change the course of history and accelerate the downfall of an unjust imperialist world order. BRICS is a breakaway from the past.

“You have the responsibility to make the concept of BRICS relatable to people from all walks of life, particularly those who remain at the margins of society. The BRICS concept must not be an elite one,” the Minister said.

She said BRICS and its multipolar outlook is fundamentally about repairing an unjust past and preparing for a future of collective well-being and prosperity among equals.

“Multipolarity is a departure from the dominant reality of a unipolar world order, in which there is only one dominant power. The rationale behind multipolarity is that it promotes stability and reduces the likelihood of conflicts.

“Our passion for BRICS must run alongside our drive for the integration of both Africa and Africans, those at home, and in the diaspora.  Through African integration, we should seek to take back the slavery, colonialism, and neo-colonialism that took away from us,” the Minister said.

Dlamini Zuma said the leaders have the responsibility to end the manufacturing of consent through media monopolies, which are currently engaged in mainstream misinformation and disinformation campaigns.

“I expect you to take this matter very seriously. Ongoing misinformation about and against BRICS itself should motivate you all to imagine new and alternative media platforms and narratives that do not reduce us into subjects or even objects. We need alternative forms of conscious journalism out of this summit,” the Minister said.

National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Executive Chairperson, Asanda Luwaca, said South Africa's membership in BRICS amplifies the country’s voice on important global issues.

“We can address challenges such as poverty, unemployment and inequality coupled with sustainable development, climate change, and social inequality more effectively when working with those who share a common vision.

“Through collaboration, we can share best practices, exchange knowledge, and create innovative solutions that benefit not only amongst the youth of South Africa but also those across the BRICS community,” Luwaca said.

She said BRICS could serve as a launch pad for entrepreneurship and innovation amongst young people.

“By creating platforms for collaboration and knowledge sharing, we can foster an environment that nurtures creativity, supports start-ups, and promotes technological advancements. Access to funding, mentorship programs, and incubation centres within the BRICS framework can provide young entrepreneurs with the necessary resources and networks to turn their ideas into successful ventures,” Luwaca said. – SAnews.gov.za