Anti-apartheid activists started a youth-centred pilot hub at Tafelsig High School.
The hub was launched at a youth day event at the school on Saturday June 15 with an event themed “We are the future: from despair to Hope”.
The hosts were the non-profit organisation Mitchell’s Plain Development Action Collective (MPDAC), a group of anti-apartheid activists spread across South Africa and the world, which was established during the national Covid lockdown in 2020 to help address food security.
Projects coordinator Tyrone Parks said Saturday’s event was to establishthe pilot hub where youth can be taught about civic duty, education, arts and culture opportunities, and the services offered by organisations and non-profit companies in Mitchell’s Plain.
Imtiaz Joshua, from Mitchell’s Plain Community Police Forum’s youth desk, said respect, kindness and love went a long way to keeping young people on the straight and narrow.
“Let your past die so your future can survive,” he said.
He encouraged the youth not to hold on to their negative baggage but to make better decisions to influence their future.
“Let the people talk as long as you know you are doing the right thing,” he said.
He said the youth should put their trust in God and not let naysayers, including possible friends who do not share their dreams, sway them.
S.m-Art Supporting Mentorship through Art representatives Sydney “Phoenix” Lewis, from Rocklands, and Thaakir Adams, from Tafelsig, spoke about art changing their lives and preventing a life of gangsterism and drugs. Together with Paint Community, a platform for muralists to showcase their work, they will be painting murals at the school until Mandela Day on Thursday July 18.
