Influence in South Africa
The Association is actively involved in community work, particularly in the rural areas of South Africa. In some rural areas, such as the greater Tzaneen area, there are Troops with over 100 scouts. Rural Troops are often limited in their activities by funding and lack of equipment. Their programme focuses on educating the Scouts in becoming good citizens and in the dangers of HIV. Educating Scouts in HIV and AIDS is vitally important due to the large number of infections in both rural and urban areas of South Africa.
The Association teaches young people the importance of high morals. Former South African President and patron of the Association, Nelson Mandela, said the following of the Scout Movement:
| “ | The international Scout movement is a world leader in youth education, and has particular relevance to the needs of youth in Africa and the emerging democracies around the globe.
I am pleased with the progress of Scouting in South Africa, and in the steps which are now being taken to make the programme accessible to more young people. The importance of a high moral code, which is at the foundation of the Scout movement, cannot be stressed too highly. |
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The Association runs a programme known as The Phakamani Project aimed at enabling any boy or girl anywhere in the country to become a Scout. Phakamani is a Nguni word for Rise. The Phakamani project is designed so that groups in the community wishing to try out the Scout programme as their own youth programme are able to do so easily and informally. Through promotional presentations using videos and support literature, communities are encouraged to form committees, and informal Scout units can start without further regulation. The desire to register as Scouts will follow.
Read more about this topic: South African Scout Association
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“I don’t have any doubts that there will be a place for progressive white people in this country in the future. I think the paranoia common among white people is very unfounded. I have always organized my life so that I could focus on political work. That’s all I want to do, and that’s all that makes me happy.”
—Hettie V., South African white anti-apartheid activist and feminist. As quoted in Lives of Courage, ch. 21, by Diana E. H. Russell (1989)
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