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The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga would like to thank all of those, be it companies, NGO’s or individuals for their generous contribution of time and resources this International Nelson Mandela Day to the benefit of the Basic Education sector.

We all know that our former President placed an enormous value on the transformative benefits of education and for this reason many have chosen to contribute to efforts in education.

The Minister would like to make special mention of AVBOB who have initiated a R150 million infrastructure programme which will see a school refurbished or built in each of the nine provinces.

A special mention also goes out to the Telkom foundation that pledged R200 million over the next five years towards improving the quality of teaching and learning with a specific focus on Maths, Science and English in disadvantaged communities. This initiative will be launched on Wednesday in Pretoria at the Winterveldt High School where they will receive high tech infrastructure as part of the Connected Schools Programme.

This means just from two South African corporates the education sector have benefitted to the value of R350 million in 24 hours. This is over and above all other initiatives targeted towards education.

Minister Motshekga is humbled by the generosity of South Africans this Mandela Day. “I would like to thank each and every South African who spent their time and or resources to benefit education. It is so rewarding to see how so many people and companies value the education system and believe in it enough to invest so comprehensively,” said Motshekga.

Issued by GCIS on behalf of the Department of Basic Education