Drawing inspiration from an auspicious moment in South Africa’s history when 26 political parties signed the Interim Constitution in November 1993; South Africa Day is not a public holiday, but a day of celebration and of community togetherness that is supported by South African business, and driven by ordinary citizens.
South Africa Day is therefore a day on which projects, celebrations and events aimed at community building are undertaken throughout the nation. While South Africa already has many specific focused days viz. Youth Day, Women’s Day, Worker’s Day, Mandela Day (service to humanity, with international focus), Heritage Day (cultural diversity), there is no day set aside for the deliberate bringing together of South Africans as a whole. South Africa Day is intended to bring a sense of urgency to addressing the challenges facing South Africa within the global economy, and those facing the nation in its politics and in the fracturing of social cohesion.
South Africa Day is the brainchild of Dr Bheki Shongwe; whose vision was brought to life through the support of prominent members of South African society who have dedicated their lives to building our country. Archbishop Thabo Magkoba, Advocate George Bizos, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu and Dr Enos Banda are patrons of South Africa Day. Of course, the contribution of our sponsors and the value they have added cannot be stressed enough.
Noteworthy activities to date include The Foschini Group’s vibrant approach to an in-house display in celebration of South Africa Day in November 2017 where staff where encouraged to sign the South Africa Day Pledge and Declaration. The Foschini Group has set in motion what South Africa Day hopes will be one of hundreds of events that will be organised by South Africans citizens in the future.
Nation building is important to inculcating a feeling of belonging and with it accountability and responsible behaviour (National Planning Commission: 2011). Central to South Africa Day’s efforts toward nation building is active citizenship in community upliftment in partnership with business and community organisations. As such, the organisation has a number of Flagship Projects that are being activated.
One project that is already coming to fruition is that of the South Africa Day Towns Makeover Initiative; wherein NWK is the proud premier sponsor. Spearheaded by South Africa Day Chief Operations Officer Barend la Grange, the town of Coligny was selected out of 6 towns in the North West province.
Coligny was a town plagued by racial fragmentation and tension following the death of sixteen-year-old Matlhomola Jonas Mosweu and the subsequent riots; and rising out of such a difficult situation especially with the events that have further divided the society being so recent, is not an easy feat. However, the Cleaning, Reparation, Painting and Planting (CRPP) beautification process, through the commitment and efforts of the local community and local business saw sponsors from outside of Coligny viz. Promac and PowerRock step in to work with the local community and business by sponsoring products and service. Prior to implementation and for the purpose of this project in Coligny, research was undertaken by the Urban and Regional students of the North-West University, under the leadership of Prof Juaneé Cilliers.
South Africa Day is immensely proud of the progress to date and plans are already under way to ensure that the objective is not just to make the town attractive in an effort to instil pride in its residents and visitors but to create an environment that is investor friendly. Chris Hart, Marius Joubert and other key economic and financial experts and interest groups are collaborating with the Coligny Forum around medium and long term investment in the town that will have sustainable impact through job creation for the local communities of Coligny, Scotland and Tlhabologang. After all, the beautification process of the town has to be accompanied by improvement of the socio-economic circumstances of citizens for the South Africa Day Towns Makeover Initiative to have a more long term, meaningful impact.
South Africa Day would love to see all South Africans get excited about and pledge support for, South Africa Day by adopting the South Africa Day Pledge and Declaration: http://www.southafricaday.org.za/Pledge/PledgeDeclaration.
For more information about South Africa Day, kindly visit www.southafricaday.org or https://www.facebook.com/SouthAfricaDay/