- The Phumza Maweni Khayelitsha Schools Festival brought together 16 schools and three local teams for a netball tournament, aiming to keep children engaged and motivated through sports.
- The event, hosted in partnership with the provincial Department of Cultural Affairs and Sports, seeks to provide a platform for youngsters to showcase their skills and potentially get scouted for professional teams.
- Organizers and participants praised the initiative, citing its benefits in keeping learners away from the streets, promoting socialization, and encouraging sports development, with plans to make the festival an annual event.
At least 16 schools and three local teams battled it out during the Phumza Maweni Khayelitsha Schools Festival at the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) Sports Ground in Harare on Saturday 7 September.
The festival, hosted in partnership with the provincial Department of Cultural Affairs and Sports, is designed to keep children away from the streets
The former Spar Proteas defender could not attend the event as she was attending a relative’s funeral.
Sivuyile Molwana, a sport coordinator in the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, described the event as part of giving back to the community.
He said the event was the first for the area but they are planning to host it annually.
“We have six u-15 and 10 u-13 teams from our local schools and three other u-15 local teams. Our aim is to motivate and encourage youngsters to play professional netball. We want local teams to feed local schools with players so they can be easily scouted when they play for school tournaments,” he said, adding that most scouters are targeting school tournaments to scout players to play in the provincial teams and other big tournaments.
Explaining why most of the local netball teams are not progressing, Molwana said lack of funds halted their progress. “Understand that when the team joins a tournament you must pay a joining fee to join a tournament and it is a huge amount of money. Sometimes the team doesn’t even have a transport to go to the tournament. There are a lot of things that hinders the progress of the local teams,” he explained.
Coach Nqabisa Qonongo from Thembelihle High School in Town Two praised the tournament organisers for such a great initiative.
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She said the festival is giving the learners a platform to showcase their skills. “Besides playing, it also keeps the learners away from the streets. Not all the learners are good at academics. Some of them are good at sports and they need to be encouraged,” she said and urged the department to do more tournaments.
Player Onika Deppa (13) from Siphiwo Primary in Harare praised the festival, citing that it is well organised. “It is nice to be here. We are having fun. Also we are having an opportunity to socialise with other learners from other schools,” said Deppa.
