#MaskUpMandela initiative delivers hundreds of masks

The Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) has teamed up with NMU’s visual arts department to deliver the first batch of a uniquely designed mask to Cape Recife School in Summerstrand as part of their #MaskUpMandela initiative.

The handover follows another delivery on June 11 at the Khulile Primary School in Motherwell, where the MBDA operated Science and Technology Centre provided more than 300 items of World Health Organisation (WHO) compliant masks and sanitisers.

Professor Pieter Binsbergen of the NMU, a member of the university’s Covid-19 responses, said more delivers were expected at a later stage.

“Cape Recife School is the first stop to receive 100 masks and Covid-19 prevention information flyers as part of the #MaskUpMandela initiative supported through funding by the MBDA,” Binsbergen said.

“It made sense for the university to start here, a neighbouring school for physically challenged learners.

“We must prioritise the most vulnerable in communities.”

On hand to receive the masks was school principal Jacques Hugo, who thanked the university and the MBDA for coming to the rescue with essential Covid-19 PPE.

MBDA spokesperson Luvuyo Bangazi said the initiative was making a tangible difference in the identified schools.

“The agency is satisfied that the most deserving and most vulnerable are receiving support through the partnership with the university,” Bangazi said.

“Also important to us is the empowerment and capacitation of smaller enterprises inclusive development as we know that the masks were produced through a co-operative.”