Let�s honour our holidays

Mmegi Editor | Friday July 18, 2014 13:26

The history of this holiday is to honour, or remember our presidents who have led this country from independence to date.

Just to remind our young readers, the founding president of this country was Sir Seretse Khama, and then succeeded by Sir Ketumile Masire in 1981, who was succeeded by Festus Mogae in 1998, who handed the reigns to Ian Khama.

The holiday is dedicated to presidents, serving and past, for the public to reflect what the individuals have done for the country.  The list of the good and the bad that our presidents have done is endless, but what is important is to celebrate their leadership roles.

It is important that this holiday comes in the middle of the year when everybody has recovered, or presumed to have taken a breather from the end of year madness, and its subsequent hangover of empty pockets and empty bank accounts. Something from which some take at least three months to do. These public holidays are the last before independence celebrations, that will be followed by the festive season.

It is, therefore, important to celebrate this holiday since it gives us time to reflect on our achievements, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities as a nation.  In recent years, the President’s Holiday has been characterised by the showcasing of the arts. Perhaps the holiday should be renamed the President’s Arts Festival.

Although these events close with an awards giving ceremony, there is room for improvement to make the festival interesting and attractive through adequate publicity about the celebrations.

Meanwhile, the world will also be observing the 67 minutes of public service dedicated to the founding president of the democratic South Africa, the late Nelson Mandela who was born July 18, 1918. In 2009 the United Nations declared July 18, Mandela Day, as a global call on people to recognise their power to make a difference and help change the world around them. The 67 minutes was derived from Mandela’s 67 years of public service, which began in 1942 when he started to campaign for human rights to pressure the then South African apartheid government to recognise black people as humans.

The idea is that each minute an individual spends, represents a year of Mandela’s public service and should be done with the aim to positively change the lives of other people.

                                                        Today’s thought

      “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”

 

                                                       – Nelson Mandela