Good morning
The Nelson Mandela Foundation jointly with the Department of Basic Education, Lead South Africa (LeadSA), the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and Brand South Africa are set to change world history.
Today, we are launching a massive campaign to mobilise democratic South Africa to celebrate uniquely the 93rd Birthday of the 1st President of the new South Africa – former President Nelson Mandela.
In what is a first for South Africa, the country will honour Tata Madiba by singing “Happy Birthday Tata Madiba” simultaneously at 08h05 on the morning of his birthday, 18 July 2011.
This inspiring and unifying song will be carried by melodious voices of nearly 12 million school children and South Africans.
What better way to explain and celebrate the meaning of Madiba.
Nearly 12 million school children in public schools will honour Madiba, next Monday, on Mandela International Day, 18 July. Schools have been asked to hoist the national flag and sing Happy Birthday to the Madiba. We appeal to all South Africans to join them. Brand SA has also issued a similar call to all South Africans living abroad to join in the singing.
The song is led by a school choir that participated in the Eistefodd National Choral Competition held last month. The song will be downloaded as from tomorrow in all major websites of our partners.
The campaign is dubbed “Let’s All Sing for Madiba”
We reiterate the profound message of President Jacob Zuma that “the most important investment in the future of any nation is in education”. This is what Madiba stood for. Today President Jacob Zuma will record a birthday message to Madiba, which will be played live to all South Africans on Monday Morning before the song is sung by all of us. All SABC radio stations coupled with Primedia stations and Morning Live on SABC 2 will break tradition and play the birthday song simultaneously at 08h05am.
During this important occasion celebrating uTata’s birthday, South Africans are called upon to volunteer their time and resources to do good for others.
As the great statesman himself once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
If we all come together, unite with determination as we did before, during and after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we will indeed achieve our goal of changing the world through education, as Madiba said.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In February this year, for the first time in history, more than 6 million learners in Grade 1 to 6 and a sample of Grade 9s sat for the Annual National Assessments (ANA). We have announced the results, and can all agree that they are a call to double our efforts in improving the quality of education at all levels.
The results confirm that our children still struggle with basic literacy and numeracy. The question on everyone’s lips is: What are we going to do?
We are currently engaged in an enormous exercise to address the real problems bedeviling our education system. This was the primary purpose of these tests. We know there is a problem. The time is now for all of us as parents, guardians, the private sector, faith-based organisations and the nation as a whole, to do more to safeguard the future of our children.
The call we are making is for communities to provide practical support to learners, teachers and schools. This may be in the form of and not limited to:
- Donating a book to a learner or school which is age appropriate, to build a life-long reading nation;
- Volunteering skills to a local school; or
- Mentoring learners in the family, or in the neighborhood.
Ladies and gentlemen,
These are just examples of what all of us as a nation can do to contribute to the education of our children.
In conclusion, we would like to acknowledge our partners in this campaign, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, LeadSA, SABC and BRAND SA and all our media partners who did not hesitate to join in to help us spread the word – Education is a societal issue. Let us all put our Hands up for Education and make a commitment to support education, for the sake of our children, and indeed for the future of this country.
Let’s all sing 4 Madiba!
I thank You.
