Globally, on 18th July, people are asked to devote just 67 minutes of their time – one minute for every year of Mandela’s public service – to making a small gesture of solidarity with humanity.
At Noord MTN Taxi Rank in central Johannesburg on 8th July, Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Bevon Butler, Suzuki National Sales Manager, Bonisile Makubalo, SA Taxi Corporate Affairs Director and their teams launched their ’10-day countdown to Mandela Day’ campaign buy handing out to taxi operators and commuters a decal calling on everyone to make every day Mandela Day.
The campaign will culminate on 18th July at the Marikana Combined School, where the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Suzuki, SA Taxi and the Bleskop Taxi Association will join forces to renovate the school, stock its library, install play equipment, and establish a food garden.
“Although, the taxi industry is a service industry by nature, all of us need to take the underlying principle of service – compassion – to its logical conclusion by pro-actively making a lasting difference, individual by individual,” says Makubalo.