It was a special occasion on Friday 19 December as the elderly in society gathered at the Protea Glen Mall in Soweto for a Xmas Celebration in an outdoor tent set-up. Marketing Manager at Protea Glen Mall Lerato Mbatha mentioned that “this forms part of the Corporate Social Investment, CSI by the shopping center whereby we give back to SASSA beneficiaries. We identify a hundred oldies working with the Winny Radebe Foundation and Tesco Sports Academy including 20 beneficiaries selected from the Councilors’ office.
”Mbatha further mentioned that initiative further ensures that the beneficiaries are rotated so everyone gets a chance. They are afforded a special time where they are entertained, served with goodie packs, essential food staples and a banquet experience where they can mingle. The result is happy faces and appreciation and playing the timeless kwela music they rose up their chairs, excuse the bothersome knees, they joyfully danced to the tunes of ‘Pata pata’ and ‘Thula mabota’, quite a delight to behold!
Langutelani ‘Mabebeza’ Shibambo from the Protea Glean Besafe Centre mentioned “that our elderly contribute immensely to our well being generally, therefore we truly wanted to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. For minding our kids, sacrificing their pension payouts to rear them, taking care of themselves also to reach their prime age is really deserving for them to be celebrated!”Shibambo as a health and safety instructor and medic trains the community on basic first aid and emergency fire safety, also offered health safety hints which prepare them to dealing with arising eventualities within their immediate households.
From Ward 135 Council office Nana Monareng, addressing the audience as a child of the soil, related that “we prepare a Xmas party for the gogo’s and mkhulus’ cooking for them and give them goodies working together with the Mall and NPO’s. They appreciate the good done from us, gathering data for those in households especially those that are really struggling. The social workers office nearby at Joe Xabi identifies the oldies that need to be prioritized for basic aid.”
Smowkey Nyembe from Tesco Sports played a stand-up comedian role entertaining the elderly and left them in stitches. He further played light-hearted interactive dialogues, giving them and audience performer reaction that lightened up their demeanor engaging them to participate freely and wholeheartedly with an array of frequent claps!
In conclusion Winny Radebe and her NPO stated that “it’s a huge privilege to be selected to work with Protea Glen Mall center management, and to date we have collaborated on a number of community uplifting projects especially the most vulnerable groups in society. We sincerely like to thanks our sponsors Protea Glen Mall centre management, Roots, Picknpay, Steers, Lebethoa Funeral and STS Soweto Taxi Services for their continually support.”
Jerry Sokhupe
Soweto Sunrise News
