Latest news with #67BlanketsForNelsonMandelaDay
The Citizen
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Glow of Mandela Day is dimming in a harsher world
Twelve years after his death, Mandela's legacy risks being reduced to performative charity and forgotten T-shirts. Youngsters from the central Johannesburg community drink some water as they queue for food, while wearing their 67 Blankets For Nelson Mandela Day donations of scarves and beanies, 18 July 2025. The distribution forms part of the annual Nelson Mandela Day initiative. Scarves, knitted by volunteers across South Africa, were distributed at Port Plein Park and were available for anyone to help themselves. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen It was in 2009 that the call to do 67 minutes for Mandela on the great man's birthday, 18 July, first sounded. It seemed a bizarre number, hardly long enough to paint a classroom, much less tend a food garden but perfect if you were packing food – or posing for a pic in the local newspaper. And there was plenty of that. Mandela Day became the bane of every newspaper editor and news editor in the country, from the big mainstream dailies to the knockand-drops, with secretaries and PRs demanding coverage. It was ubiquitous. People even summited Kilimanjaro on Madiba's birthday, ostensibly to keep the girl in school by drawing attention to the dearth of sanitary products that would keep girls at home, rather than face the embarrassment of being in class during their period. ALSO READ: Gauteng Hospitals achieve record 806 surgeries on Mandela Day Much of the public displays of piety, charity and Ubuntu were performative and public – flying right in the face of the Good Book's injunction to keep alms deeds private. But much of it was real. The glow might have faded from the faces of school kids when the celebs left and the TV camera lights were doused, but at least they were left with (delete as applicable) new libraries/ painted classrooms/planted food gardens/JoJo tanks/new shoes/ stationery kits. Mandela has been gone 12 years, come December, and the momentum for 67 minutes, codified to represent a minute for each year of his life that he dedicated to public service, seems to have stuttered a bit. There are still the old stagers drawn like fading moths to the guttering candle light of a pic in the local newspaper (or self-published on LinkedIn and cross-pollinated by eager staffers on their Facebook and X accounts), but the wave that was once a tsunami of self-congratulation certainly seems to have ebbed. ALSO READ: Mlindo The Vocalist releases his long-awaited album on Mandela Day as a way of 'giving back' It's a pity. It doesn't matter what the motivation was to take part in Mandela Day – and literally getting the T-shirt – the recipients benefited. But it's not surprising if less good works are being done, because the world is a far harsher, crueller place than it was in Madiba's day. It's manifestly more selfish and graphically more unequal and the vulnerable are at even greater risk. You don't even see people wearing their Mandela Day T-shirts any more – even if it is just once a year. We are poorer for that – all of us. Tata Madiba deserved better. NOW READ: WATCH: Pandor calls on world leaders to be good 'troublemakers' like Madiba
The Citizen
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
PICTURES: Mandela Day blankets bring warmth to Joburg CBD
67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day honoured the legacy of Mandela by distributing scarves in central Johannesburg. Youngsters from the central Johannesburg community drink some water as they queue for food, while wearing their 67 Blankets For Nelson Mandela Day donations of scarves and beanies, 18 July 2025. The distribution forms part of the annual Nelson Mandela Day initiative. Scarves, knitted by volunteers across South Africa, were distributed at Port Plein Park and were available for anyone to help themselves. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen The distribution forms part of the annual Nelson Mandela Day initiative, where South Africans donate their time and effort to helping the needy. Scarves, knitted by volunteers across South Africa, were distributed at Port Plein Park. This year's activation brings together a team of partners including City Sightseeing Joburg, Stuttaford van Lines, the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership (JICP), and the United Ethiopian Community Association in South Africa, who provided hot soup and hospitality for those gathering in the park. 67 Blankets For Nelson Mandela Day volunteers arrive in central Johannesburg to distribute scarves and beanies, 18 July 2025, for those that need them. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen 67 Blankets For Nelson Mandela Day founder Carolyn Steyn greets volunteers. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen 67 Blankets For Nelson Mandela Day volunteers distribute scarves and beanies at Port Plein Park in central Johannesburg. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen 67 Blankets For Nelson Mandela Day volunteers distribute scarves. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen Port Plein Park is seen decorated with colourful scarves. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen PICTURES: Swan Lake ballet takes to Joburg stage
The Citizen
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
24 hours in pictures, 18 July 2025
24 hours in pictures, 18 July 2025 Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world. Australia's artistic swimmer Margo Joseph-Kuo and Australia's artistic swimmer Georgia Courage-Gardiner compete in the preliminary round of the women's duet technical artistic swimming event during the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on July 18, 2025. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP) Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Grindavik, Reykjanes, Iceland, 18 July 2025. According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, a magma flow has begun at the Sundhnuk crater range on 16 July. Picture: EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS Thai nationalists wave national flags during a protest rally outside the United Nations (UN) building in Bangkok, Thailand, 18 July 2025. The demonstrators are calling on the UN to launch an investigation into the Thai-Cambodian border crisis, after a landmine explosion injured three Thai soldiers during a patrol operation along the border with Cambodia on 16 July. Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have escalated following a brief military clash in May 2025, with both countries increasing their military presence along the border, and imposing measures against each other. Picture: EPA/NARONG SANGNAK Youngsters from the central Johannesburg community drink some water as they queue for food, while wearing their 67 Blankets For Nelson Mandela Day donations of scarves and beanies, 18 July 2025. The distribution forms part of the annual Nelson Mandela Day initiative. Scarves, knitted by volunteers across South Africa, were distributed at Port Plein Park and were available for anyone to help themselves. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen A farmer works at a paddy field in the village of Bardwan, north of Kolkata, Eastern India, 18 July 2025. India is the second largest rice producer in the world. This year's rice prices have increased by 20 percent compared to 2024, as well as the global market. Picture: EPA/PIYAL ADHIKARY Kanwariyas, devotees of the Hindu god Shiva, carry holy water of the river Ganges during the 'Kanwar Yatra' pilgrimage in the sacred month of Sawan in New Delhi on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) A woman walks past an apartment building at a newly built residential district in Moscow, Russia, 18 July 2025. Picture: EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV Members of the MK (uMkhonto weSizwe) political party gather as they march in support of the KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during a rally in central Pretoria, South Africa, 18 July 2025. Mkhwanazi has accused South African Police Minister Senzo Mchunu of sabotaging an investigation into political killings by allegedly seizing 121 open case files in March and pushing to disband the team assigned to the probe. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa placed Mchunu on leave with immediate effect. Picture: EPA/KIM LUDBROOK An aerial photo shows the banks of Butterley Reservoir which are partially revealed by a falling water level, near Oldham, northern England on July 18, 2025. Extremes in temperature and rainfall in the UK are becoming increasingly frequent, the nation's meteorological service said this week in a report on Britain's changing climate. Records were now being broken 'very frequently', said Mike Kendon, Met Office climate scientist and lead author of the Met Office's State of the UK Climate report. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) Balloonists prepare a hot air balloon for takeoff during the 25th Aero Station King's Cup, as part of the Segovia Hot Air Balloon Festival, in Segovia, Spain, 18 July 2025. The festival aims to highlight Segovia's status as a 'European City of Sport'. Picture: EPA/PABLO MARTIN PICTURES: Mandela Day blankets bring warmth to Joburg CBD
