Chatting to some of them, they sound much proud to be born on the year of the first democratic election in South Africa. Led by the human resource department's (HRD) Zanele Ntingane and Maureen Kgoloane, one group of learners heeded for the second floor of the administration offices housing the HRD.

Here they learnt not just about the internal workings of the department, but given the prevalence of HRD in almost all employee activities, the young learners also had an insight on almost all the departments, clusters and units within the Sedibeng district municipality.

For almost an hour-long chat with a soft-spoken acting-human resource director Abram Mokhoantle, they learnt on the shape and size of the administrative structure (organogram) of the district municipality.

Ironically, after a seemingly draining exchange, Mokhoantle said he felt  'honourable' for hosting the freedom-children in a clearly surprise invasion.

The visibility of the risk control officer Jan Wessels on the corridors of the HRD offices was a silent indicator that he is aware of what he is up against.

Armed with a pair of scissors, a packet of Choice condoms, paper glue and a Bible-thick copy of the Conditions of Employment Act, Wessels seemed ready to ramble with the children of freedom.

Explains Wessels: 'The scissors are for cutting-out of the municipality's employ all those who do not follow the policies as stipulated in the Act. The glue is meant to stick employees with the policies, whereas the Choice condoms represents the actual freedom of choice whether to abide or not by the policies, albeit the consequences.

After a series of storming into the various offices within the HRD they went for lunch only to come back for yet another thrilling experience of one department with the longest name in the municipality.

Bonnie Tsotetsi of the department of sports, arts, recreation, culture and heritage took the visitors on a coincidental walk to the the Civic Theatre where high-school Afrikaans-language play was about to begin. The workers at the lighting and sound department were just readying themselves for the play, giving the young visitors an opportune moment to get a brief-look into the tricks of theatrical trade. Soon afterwards they heeded for the epicenter of the region's past and contemporary history, the Technorama Museum. 

At the museum the young ones were flooded with tons of historical data relating to various episodes in the development of the region. Much of such information even turned into pale insignificance some of the contemporary and equally important facts about the region such as the Delmas Trial, the sixties massacre and a host of other facts.

The school-chosen learners from different schools learnt on various archeological facts relating to the discoveries of artifacts and tools of the stone and iron age people, the Khoi-San stone inscriptions, facts and evidence of the Sotho-Tswana settlements and tons of the earliest data found in the region.

Feminism-wise, the young ones learnt on various personalities ranging from the first female mayor of the town Vereeneging, the first highly educated black woman, to the contemporaries like the first non-official woman to be awarded a state funeral. These are Mary Hoogenhout, Charlotte Mxenge and Adelaide Tambo, wife to the longest serving ANC president, Oliver Tambo, all of them are late.

And naturally, no serious socio-political museum in South Africa contains no picture or any symbol of Nelson Mandela. His picture, captured in his impromptu visit to the Nangalembe's family on the wake of the memorable massacre, accompanied by his wife Winnie, is one of those gallantly spicing the museum menu.

As the son went down, with some of the staff members’ closing-shop at the museum, heritage manager Sipho Khumalo punched a final nail unto the coffin of the freedom children's minds.
He took them through various methods through which all what is stored at the museum is researched, verified and ultimately stored for use by the future generations.

An intensive engagement with two senior managers, two MMCs and a presentation on career development all characterised the second day of the campaign.

The agenda centred on evaluating of the previous day's activities and an attempt at mapping a way forward for the next and final day.

The previous day saw the 1994-born freedom-children making visits to various departments at the district municipality's head-office in Vereeneging in this "take a child learner to work" campaign.

This seven year-old campaign, which entered its second year of implementation by the district municipality kicked-off with a presentation on environmental issues by the MMC for transport, infrastructure and environmental Clr Dorcas Ralitsela.

Even though hers centred on the pollution of the rivers, the air and the environment in general, she also stressed on issues like discipline, respect and the general advice to the fifteen year-olds.

Soon after her presentation, the young ones, most of them interested in the legal career, had an opportunity to listen to the director of legal and support services who is also an experienced lawyer, Lungi Shembe.

She made an extensive talk on the ins and outs of the legal profession including the basic entrance requirements for legal studies.

Her input was followed by a question and answer session where she had to contend with loaded questions on not just the legal career, but also on the broader justice system in the country.

Having made her presentation, it was chance for director in the office of the mayor, Jabu Khumalo to take floor.

Khumalo's brief was to tackle issues surrounding the municipal bursary fund which came under spotlight in the previous day's exercise. Director Khumalo outlined some of the challenges facing the fund such as limited resources to meet unlimited needs of the region's learners.

'Not all learners in the region could be assisted through the funds, and the fields of study also influence the decisions on the awarding of bursaries,' Khumalo indicated.

He further added that the problem facing the country is not just jobs but the availability of skills among the economically active population.

He further challenged campaign organisers to begin taking the young ones to the companies in the region. This he says should be done with a clear message: 'The government can do this much on the educational front. How far can the private sector come on board in taking the process further?'

Having spoken, the next input came from the assistant manager responsible for human resource development, Nompi Mlambo.

A graduate in industrial psychology, Nompi made an intensive presentation on career development and planning.

She emphasised to the learners that the process of career planning starts not just when they reach the final year at high-school, but instead right at their age – fifteen years.

She further challenged the organisers to invite the learners during the annual job readiness workshop organised by her department, the Human Resource.

Also present though not one of the speakers was the director in the Speaker's Office, Jeff Rademeyer who posed questions as part of the audience but also made a short presentation on the campaign itself.

He emphasised on the need to take the campaign to much higher levels in future. He also added that the freedom-kids possess better speaking, thinking and reading abilities.

Towards the end of the day's activities, Clr Maipato Tsokolibane made a final presentation which became the final concluding talk for the day.

A former teacher who has been in the profession for fifteen years at four different schools, Clr Tsokolibane expressed her gratitude for sharing a moment with the learners.

After the day's activities, a young poet and also poser of some of the difficult questions to the speakers took the floor to recite a poem she just wrote the previous day.

Also taking the floor was the young Sydney who requested government support for a regional debating tournament.

The event continues today where the young learners will join al the councillors at a council meeting scheduled for today.