Author: Dumani Moyo

Local football fanatics benefit from a five-day workshop

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Coaches Across Continents (CAC) uplifted local football coaches by teaching football and life skills at a successful sport workshop from 11 to 15 February at Emthonjeni in Zandspruit.

Coaches Across Continents (CAC) is a global NGO which works with corporations, governments, foundations, and community based organizations in different continents. Their aim is to create legacies based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

 Football coaches and players attended the workshop alongside community members to discuss issues related to football and social life. Coaches Across Continents awarded everyone who attended the workshop.

“We enjoyed the workshop facilitated by Markus Bensch about football and life skills,” said the founder of Football Without Borders (FWB) Michael Mapfunde. “It was all about how to use football games as educational tools to address UN Social Development Goals.”

One of the interesting themes was dealing with gender inequality in football, Mapfunde said.  “We managed to get about 6 women to participate in the workshop. Some of them were soccer players and have the desire to start a women’s soccer club in Zandspruit. We also touched on areas such as drug abuse, health education and conflict resolution”

 The workshop equips young coaches to use football as a tool to engage young kids on various social issues that affect them, Mapfunde said.

Golden Drifters deputy president Peter Fanie Dlamini, who also attended the workshop, said the football seminar would have positive impact especially to the young soccer players.

“The youngsters were also taught how to build mutual relationships with the adults,” Dlamini said. “This will help them to seek advice from the adults about the issues they always shy away from talking about, for example drugs. We are very thankful for the teachings we received at the workshop. It will bring change in local communities.” .fP���

Happy Feet Day Care officially launches

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Happy Feet Day Care has secured more than 35 spots for children in Cosmo City’s extension 0, aiming to teach ages two to five under the early childhood development curriculum.

MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet partnered with GROW with Educare Centres to officially launch the pre-school on 13 February. Their project aims to establish 21 high quality early childhood development ECD) centres in under-resourced communities of Cape Town and Gauteng over the next two years.

 “With funding of almost R5 million,” said the General Manager of MySchoolMyVillageMyPlanet Pieter Twine, “this is one of our biggest commitments to a single project to date”.

“ We welcome the opportunities to partner with GROW and see 21 new high quality GROW Educare Centres get off the ground over 2019 and 2020,” Twine said.  “This is a project that brings together vital education and child care, as well as entrepreneurship, employment and sustainability.”

Twine added that his organization will continue partnering with various stakeholders to bring quality in ECD.

When they identify the potential beneficiaries of their programme, Twine said they make sure that children are learning in a good environment and teachers receive proper training.

 Happy Feet Day Care principal Maria Tabana said she was happy for the pre-school to be considered for the educational programme.

“I am happy that the preschool is now officially launched,” Tabana said. “I think it is a positive move which will benefit the community. Children will get better education and get themselves ready to move to big schools. We teach them a lot of things including how to write using pencils and how to identify colours.”

 Worldwide, delivering quality ECD has been identified as a key strategy to break entrenched cycles of poverty and inequality. GROW uses a tool developed by the World Bank (the MELQO – Measuring Early Learning Quality Outcomes) to evaluate whether children in GROW schools are achieving internationally benchmarked milestones of development.

According to GROW, under-resourced pre-school centres in Gauteng and Cape Town will be transformed and brought into the thriving GROW brand community. GROW will ensure the upgrading of facilities to meet mandatory ECD standards; leadership, business and education training for the micro-franchisee; educational training for child caregivers; provision of outstanding educational resources through GROW Learning; a healthy, balanced nutrition programme, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, as well as active mentoring, and parent and community outreach. Each school will also start the process of registration with the Department of Social Development. C

Taxi owner shot dead in Cosmo City

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Police are investigating an incident in which a taxi owner was shot and killed at taxi rank on Wednesday morning, in Cosmo City.

  • Residents and passangers remained shell shocked at the taxi rank as paramedics took the body of the deceased

Witnesses to the incident say the well known taxi owner, Ngobane, was at the Multipurpose taxi rank around 6:30 AM when unknown men opened fire on him where he stood outside his taxi. Passangers had to duck and dive behind taxis as gun shots prevailed.

Police arrived soon thereafter as shocked commuters and residents stood around. Paramedics declared the taxi owner dead on the scene, and a murder case was registered for investigation.

It is clear the shooting was taxi-violence-related; Honeydew police spokesperson Captain Balan Muthan confirmed the incident.

“Three men, who drove in a red golf, stopped at the taxi rank and got out with fire arms,” Captain Muthan said. “They shot the taxi owner several times all over his body, and he died on the scene. There were approximately seventeen shots fired. The deceased was operating under Randburg United Long Distance Taxi Association (RULDTA).”

Captain Muthan said if any person witnesses such an event should quickly contact the police, instead of taking photos and videos of the deceased and share on social media.

Taxi drivers, who spoke to the Chronicle, expressed their shock about the incident.

“It is a moment of darkness to us,” said Mathebula. “Whoever did that to our colleague must be possessed with evil spirits. We are not sure about who did the shooting, but I think those gunmen were hired by someone else to do such a wicked thing.”

“It is not easy to accept that,” said a taxi marshal who preferred to remain anonymous, “it also won’t be easy for the police to get hold of the gunmen because it happened so fast.” 

DA and City of Johhanesburg react to ANC over Ward Councillors’ suspension and dismissal

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Democratic Alliance (DA) City of Johannesburg has blasted ANC in Johannesburg for its series of actions against Ward Councillors, calling up on the ruling party to play open cards with the residents of Johannesburg and explain why they are disciplining Ward Councillors in the dark.

Some the ANC Ward Councillors are facing pressure from their party members to step down.Ward 100 ANC Councillor Mapula Mosito is facing a similar situation.

 The ANC in Johannesburg recently released a press statement on the weekend of 16 February, indicating that they had removed Ward 50 Councillor Zulu for associating with another political party. According to DA Caucus, ANC Diepsloot Ward Councillor Mabuke has been suspended with no clear reason given.

Johhanesburg Mayor Hemman Mashaba  released a media statement stating that he has been approached by ANC Ward Councillors who have been dismissed or suspended by the ANC in Johannesburg.

“What is curious about these moves is that while the ANC in Johannesburg is taking actions against its Ward Councillors there remains little transparency as to its real reasons. We are informed that another three ANC Ward Councillors are due to face disciplinary action,” the mayor said.

The removal or suspension of a Ward Councillor in the City of Johannesburg is not a matter to be taken lightly, he said, given that Ward Councillors are democratically elected.

Most troubling, the mayor said, is that the ANC talks about ‘Caretaker Ward Councillors’ to assume responsibility which undermines the democratic process.

“It poses the question of who elects these ‘Caretaker Ward Councillors? ’It is worth noting that while the ANC continues to fail to implement any steps against its senior leadership in Johannesburg, implicated by forensic investigations, it appears happy to act against elected Ward Councillors without transparency or public scrutiny.”

According to the Mayor, a lot of politicians never received serious disciplinary after committing offences.

“ Former Mayor Parks Tau and former MMC of Finance Geoff Makhubo remain untouched for their alleged party, personal or family benefits derived from the contract with Regiments Capital. Former MMCs Dan Bovu, MatshidisoMfikoe and Mally Mokoena remain undealt with over similar forensic investigations that are before the City’s Ethics Committee.” 

“It would appear that ANC Councillors in leadership positions are immune from actions for enriching themselves, using state resources to pay for party events, employing family members and selling City owned land to vulnerable people. What could these ANC Ward Councillors have done that was worse than any of these offences which have received no attention?” concluded the Mayor. � Pt� �

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