The students, staff and some parents at St John’s College gathered on Burger Field for 67 minutes to mark Mandela Day 2025, creating a striking image of Nelson Mandela using more than 8 000 donated cans of food.
Students from across the grades and forms took turns joining Mr Emeka Ntone-Edjabe, College Art Teacher, on the field to place their cans and help complete the image of Madiba. The formation, visible from above, was a powerful symbol of unity and service. The morning concluded with the community standing together to sing the School Song and the National Anthem.
This initiative formed part of the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s call to action under the theme “It’s still in our hands to combat poverty and inequity.” In response, the College community set a bold target of collecting 6 700 cans of food — 100 for each of the 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted to public service.
The drive was led by Community Service Committee members Fu-Nam Chen (LV Fleming), Gui-Nam Chen (LV Fleming), Mncedi Fillis (LV Fleming) and Thomas Kreusch (LV Thomson), and gained momentum in the final week. Donations surged each day, reaching nearly 7 700 by the evening before Mandela Day and crossing the 8 000 mark with late contributions received, thanks to the incredible support of our community.
The cans of food will be distributed to MES, Malaika Children’s Home, Dlala Nje at Ponte, the African Children’s Feeding Scheme, and other organisations supporting vulnerable communities within Johannesburg’s inner city.
We are incredibly grateful to our wonderful families who added extra cans to their weekly shopping lists, raided their pantries at home, and even sent fleets of Checkers Sixty60 and Pick n Pay ASAP delivery bikes to descend on campus with cans of food. Every contribution helped us cross the line in meeting—and ultimately exceeding—this ambitious goal.
“Mandela said that as long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest,” said Stuart West, Executive Headmaster. “The St John’s family is inspired to play a small part in serving our neighbourhood partners, who never rest in their daily fight against poverty and in providing food for many vulnerable families in our precinct.”
