INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY
WILMOT JAMES: Mandela left a legacy of elevating welfare of young to highest priority
Former president and his wife, Graca Machel, championed cause through Unicef even after stepping down
In celebrating the centenary of his birth we must recall, in this jarring age of antimodernist fake news, that Nelson Mandela’s priority was the fate and welfare of children. One of his first acts as president was to establish an interministerial committee on young people at risk. He charged the committee with the task of transforming, as he framed it, "the child and youth care system". About 50,000-80,000 young people were in some form of foster care, and the committee was to ensure they were well looked after through the application of what Mandela called "family preservation and new foster-care approaches". Announced a month later as a priority in Mandela’s first, May 24 1994, state of the nation address — fast by any standard — he reported to the nation on International Children’s Day (June 1) that his government had set in motion mechanisms to implement the following programmes for children:
Free medical care in state hospitals and clinics for those younger than six years...
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