Paying tribute to Ismail Coovadia, a true South African hero
By Opinion
By Ambassador Welile Nhlapo
This past weekend we lost one of our veterans, Ambassador Ismail Coovadia. I first met him in London in January 1978. He met me at the Victoria station in London after I had arrived from Angola to work in the ANC office. I had just been appointed as Deputy Editor of Sechaba, the official publication of the ANC.
He drove me to the ANC office in Rathbone Street and I was received by comrades Reg September, Francis Meli, my editor, and other staff members.
Comrade Ismail immediately opened a bale and asked me to choose warm clothes since I was scantily dressed for London s extreme cold weather.
The sixth World NGO Day will be commemorated on Saturday, 27 February in more than 89 countries. An NGO is non-profit and is run by citizens outside of any government structure. There are an estimated 10 million NGOs in the world, employing about 50 million people. The number of NGOs is expected to double in the next decade.
The rest of the week…
On
Wednesday, 24 February, the digitalisation of South Africa’s social grant payments system will come under the spotlight. The Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project will interview Lynette Maart, the director of Black Sash, on how it came to be that the country became dependent on just one company for the payment of grants. Listen in at 10am here.