All our business units across the country took part, each with their own dedicated initiatives. All the initiatives lasted 67 minutes, highlighting the 67 years that Mandela made an impact on the world (one minute for every year that he was a public servant).

A clean up took place around our premises in Blackheath as well as a beach clean-up for our employees in Killarney Gardens. There was a great turnout (over 80 employees) and a whole skip was filled with waste from the environment. Averda employees armed with bags and gloves safely collected and disposed 560 kilograms of waste.

Our City Deep and Klerksdorp business units each visited a local retirement home to spend time taking care of the elderly. Our teams had a great time; they shared food and gave hand massages! The City Deep employees also helped with painting parts of the retirement home’s kitchen.

In Durban, our teams visited a home for children with special needs. They hosted a tea party for the kids and played lots of fun games!

Sight Lines, in Centurion, assisted the Department of Water and Sanitation to clean up a local river. It was a great collaboration with over 2 skip bins filled with waste.

Also in Centurion, the Head Office team partnered with a really exciting start-up called Kinder Joy. The team painted their jungle-gym and installed artificial grass – so that it looks “good as new” again – for the children to enjoy. Distributing new clothes to all the children was also part of the initiative. After the renovation job, everyone gathered to enjoy a healthy meal.

Finally, our Secunda office will be handing over a new ablution facility to Laeskool Hoëveld on Monday 24 July – as soon as the school reopens. This project was also a collaboration with other local businesses – in true Madiba style.

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” Nelson Mandela

Happy Mandela day from all Averda South Africa’s employees.