67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela aims to break its own world record

Prisoners from all over South Africa are crocheting furiously in an attempt to help the KnitWits for Madiba break their current Guinness World Record for the biggest crochet blanket in the world. 

"We'll have blankets for Africa, spread as far as the eye can see, made by us and the prisoners. This will be South Africa's Wool Cup," said 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day founder or "chief KnitWit" Carolyn Steyn, at the initiative's second birthday celebration at the Nelson Mandela Foundation on Wednesday night.  

On 22 April this year – to mark 22 years of democracy – the gigantic blanket (of at least 6 700m², almost the size of a rugby field) will be laid at the feet of Madiba's statue at the Western Cape's Drakenstein Correctional Centre, the prison from which he was released in 1990. 

It all began in December 2013, when Zelda la Grange, Nelson Mandela’s assistant, challenged Steyn to knit 67 blankets that would then be distributed to those in need on Nelson Mandela Day the following year.

Steyn accepted the challenge, called on her friends for help, created the 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day Facebook group, and the rest is history.

“When Zelda challenged me to make 67 blankets by Mandela Day 2014, I didn’t know if I would get to 67 blankets. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that in just two years we would have over 6 000 members in South Africa alone and be represented in over 20 countries around the world … Little did I expect that we would have made over 20 000 blankets,” Steyn said enthusiastically. 

67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day has partnered with the Department of Correctional Services in an aim to start "knitting broken lives together".

"When a prisoner says, 'We are knitting together broken lives, knitting together broken trusts. With this project we are finding our humanity again', then I know that we are on the right path in terms of the rehabilitation of offenders who are going to one day walk out of those prison gates into our world – and come out better people," Steyn added. 

She showed attendees a video of Mark Swanepoel, a convicted armed robber and inmate at Zonderwater Correctional Centre, busy crocheting a blanket. "It's like therapy. Sometimes I can't wait for them to lock us up, so we can start knitting," he said. 

"There are 143 000 prisoners in South Africa, sitting somewhere, needing to be rehabilitated," said Fezile Sipamla, Director of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture at the Department of Correctional Services. According to Sipamla the partnership between the department and 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela has given prisoners something productive and constructive to do while they're behind bars. "They [prisoners] are saying they're sorry for what they did by knitting these blankets. They're knitting their lives together."

A new video of the 67 Blankets Anthem, written by Steyn's 12-year-old godchild, Ella, and two prisoners, was also launched at the event. Timothy Moloi and PJ Powers watched as their recording of the song, with rapper ProVerb, was showed to the audience. The video will be available on iTunes soon.  

Minister of Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula said: "As a government, we have to support initiatives that bring people together. It gives us hope. Carolyn and her team say to us, 'Never give up.'" 

Nelson Mandela Foundation Chief Executive Sello Hatang said our country, with all the challenges it faces, including racism, needs projects like 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day. "How can we defeat this demon [racism] and rebuild Madiba's dream? This project is showing it's possible. The person we are doing this for, whom it's named after, would be proud.

"If such a project – it started with just an idea – can turn into something so big, think of what can be achieved."