The Eastern Cape government will host this year’s Nelson Mandela International Day celebrations at Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s home village of Mbhongweni in Mbizana, Eastern Cape.
The late Madikizela-Mandela was the wife of the late state icon, Nelson Mandela. Despite the province being Mandela’s birthplace, the majority of residents still have insufficient access to amenities.
A call has been made for leaders to emulate Mandela’s values by prioritising service delivery.
Nelson Mandela International Day is a day set aside to honour Nelson Mandela’s lifelong legacy of fighting for human rights, equality, and peace.
The celebration is a global call to action that encourages individuals to take responsibility for making the world a better place. It revolves around the 67-minutes initiative.
Nelson Mandela Museum Chairperson, Sharmaine Dunn says, “Mandela’s life reminds us that the opposite of greed is not poverty, it is indeed stewardship. He believed that leaders, businesses and citizens all have a responsibility to use their resources, influence and opportunities to build a more just and compassionate society.”
Despite Nelson Mandela’s dream for everybody to have access to water, the Eastern Cape still has a sizable population without clean drinking water, which is a fundamental human right essential to life and dignity.
Cabinet calls on all South Africans to dedicate their time and efforts during Mandela Month and on Nelson Mandela International Day on 18 July 2026, to help build a South Africa that works for South Africans.#MandelaDay2026 #ItsStillInYourHands #MakingGoodTrouble #CapableState pic.twitter.com/8750pAD1WS
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) July 6, 2026
Water scarcity
Residents of KwaCwele village in Ngqeleni are consuming muddy water. One of the residents, Nosange Fodo says, “On this Mandela month, we do not have access to clean water, we fetch the muddy water, we are forced to apply sandy soil into it as a traditional method to clean it for consumption. Here at Cwele village, we do not have springs, no tanks, there are taps.”
Women and children are mainly affected by water scarcity. They go around the village, searching for water to do laundry.
Another resident, Nokwanda Sishuba adds, “We want to see leaders that took over from Mandela to do the job. It is very disappointing to have water taps in the village that supply no water to the people, people’s livestock is dying. We live a miserable life. We walk a distance to get water from the dam where we do our laundry.”
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Government says the Water and Sanitation Department will be rolling out water schemes and fixing water projects that have not been working. This will be part of the 67-minutes initiative.
Meanwhile, Eastern Cape Premier, Oscar Mabuyane also adds, “Minister of water affairs has invited me. She is coming here. They are here to hand over these projects to make sure that a lot of unfunctioning water schemes, I think about 13 projects, she will be handing over that day.”
Human rights
The Nelson Mandela Museum says Mandela was clear about the core principles of human rights, equality and democracy.
“With core principles such as human rights, equality and democracy where at stake, he was completely uncompromising and fearlessly determined. He said to deny people human rights is to challenge their very humanity,” says Dunn.
The provincial government and Nelson Mandela Museum are rolling out 67-minutes initiatives to render much-needed services to people across the province.
The museum’s Acting CEO Mandisi Msongelwa adds, “It will be focusing more on the environment, whereby again we are sustaining the environment by obviously planting indigenous trees that will be left behind, one of the trees that we will have to fight for, for that side is fruit trees.”
Additionally, Premier Mabuyane says they will be putting those 67 minutes as commitment and gratitude for what Mandela did.
“So, we are seeing a lot of road infrastructure improvement as I have indicated across the Alfred Nzo, multi-billion projects that are happening in that particular side.”
Impoverished communities in the countryside want leaders, business people and humanitarian entities to continue honouring the values of Nelson Mandela throughout the year. They say socio-economic challenges continue to undermine Nelson Mandela’s core principles.
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