SALGA and Nelson Mandela Foundation join forces to restore human dignity

Posted: 07 July 2017

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JOHANNESBURG, WEDNESDAY, 07 JULY– The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to map-up collaboration efforts in a joint fight against poverty and to restore human dignity for the people of South Africa.

The signing ceremony took place in Johannesburg, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton.  SALGA will now develop a program of action for the initiatives while the NMF will provide the much-needed support.

The key pillars of the #SALGANMF are: Restore Dignity, Education and Literacy, Social Cohesion through Sports, and Dialogues. These pillars sum-up the work that these Parties will be engaged with over a period of five years.

SALGA CEO, Xolile George sad the collaboration will go beyond the commemoration of the Mandela Day. The partnership will be carried forward practically through designing and implementing annual programmes.  In education and literacy objective, books will be collected from willing sources which include private sector companies and individuals and thereafter distributed to libraries in selected municipal spaces as per an agreed criteria.

Dialogues or lectures will be jointly conducted on selected subjects based on their national importance. SALGA will be invited to participate by the NMF. This process is meant to contribute towards the enhancement of community development through social cohesion where Councillors will have an opportunity to engage on governance and leadership issues.

George said, the four pillars of the MoU resonate with SALGA’s mandate, which is to transform local government.
Ahead of the signing of the MoU, George said: “You can feel the overwhelming sense of the spirit of Tata Mandela, the sheer point of responsibility he has left with us as you come inside this building.”
George said this day reminded him of Nelson Mandela famous words: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead”. He said the MoU should live-up to Mandela words of wisdom.

“Developmental local government is local government committed to working with citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives,” George said.

In 2016, SALGA in partnership with the NMF, joined the world in commemorating the International Nelson Mandela Day by donating school textbooks and Sanitary towels to girl learners at Diepsloot and Sunrise Secondary Schools in Johannesburg.

In the new MoU, the Partners will organize and implement the annual commemoration of Mandela Day and implement quarterly activities which will seek to achieve the overall pillars of the agreement.