‘Every day is a Mandela Day’: SAMSA extends food relief to needy in North West

UPDATED: Wednesday 29 July 2020 [05.30pm]

Pretoria: 27 July 2020

Nelson Mandela Day 2020: SAMSA maintains its commitment to helping alleviate poverty among the needy. A North West community chosen for assistance

On 18 July every year since 2009, South Africans join the international community to celebrate Nelson Mandela Day, In South Africa by and large, people are encouraged to partake by devoting ’67 minutes’ of their time in offering assistance of one kind or another to those less privileged than themselves.

It is with that spirit that the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) once again – as it has done every year – joins the celebration by devoting some attention to those in need. According to a SAMSA statement in Pretoria this week, the targeted community this year is that of Maboloka village in North West province.

In keeping with the theme of Mandela Day 2020: “Each 1 Feeds 1” SAMSA says it has pledged part of its Corporate Social Investment (CSI) budget to bring relief to the community of Maboloka by donating food parcels to 150 families.

Maboloka is a rural village under the jurisdiction of Madibeng Municipality in the North West province, one of the country’s five inland provinces, with a population of approximately 160 000. Most of the families survive on social grants, with a high rate of youth unemployment.

The food parcels will be distributed to the community on Wednesday, 29 July 2020. In the endeavour and gesture of goodwill, SAMSA has partnered with a locally based Non-Government Organisation (NGO), The Youth for Survival; to assist with the distribution of the food parcels.

The Youth for Survival is a registered NGO headquartered in Pretoria and with a satellite office in the Maboloka village. According to SAMSA, the NGO has in the past participated in poverty alleviation projects.  On Wednesday, it will assist in delivering the food parcels to families in the area identified as most in need.

SAMSA Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr Sobantu Tilayi says the distribution of food parcels to the Maboloka community this year, is part of a broader project by SAMSA and its partners scheduled for rollout soon.

With this year’s celebration of the Nelson Mandela Day occurring under a dark cloud of a rampant Covid-19 pandemic across the world, and which is ravaging economies in an unprecedented scale due to necessary country lockdowns, the need among those less priviledged has become even greater.

“In the coming weeks we will announce a project that will see SAMSA partnering with institutions in both the private and the public sectors in interventions in fishing communities. We have decided to dedicate resources into long term and sustainable projects that will ensure effective poverty alleviation in vulnerable fishing communities particularly during this COVID-19 pandemic”, said Mr Tilayi.

Mr Tilayi further said that SAMSA’s involvement with the Maboloka community was indicative of SAMSA’s commitment to ensuring inclusive beneficiation of inland communities in the country’s vast maritime resources.

End.