My premise for the above lies in the fact that we have not yet identified where development is critically required. I am of the belief that we are looking for development in infrastructure, economics and power of the nation, whereas what we really need is development of the man. We need development in the minds of the deprived, particularly, the black man.

We need to start feeding black people information in order for them to succeed and develop themselves and others. If our aim is to develop our country, I am a strong believer of Mahatma Gandhi’s words “be the change you want to see.” We are so concerned of developing our country and getting it to compete internationally, but who are we sending there if we are not preparing any of our people to stand with the Obamas and Castros of this world.

What might be the cause of this sad reality is the absence of mentors, role models and life coaches in deprived societies. Be it, black or white, South Africa has no role models that have chosen to be role models; it is only those that we choose to idolise without them knowing or having indirectly applied for it, role models by default. With that mentioned, the most volatile reality is that those who are able to feed the minds of those in plenty, have moved so far up in the ladder of life, they oppress us with their outstanding knowledge, or power acquired through knowledge, broadening the gap between the poor and progressive instead of a counter process.

Normally, the transition is referred to as “from rags to riches” and it is this approach towards life that drives us from destitution and plenty towards attaining richness. This is a fallacy and it leads us to misconstruing the definition of richness with that of wealth, a topic for another day. We should not just move from being the destitute and become the rich. We should, instead, move to being rich and then give those who have not been able to move a toe from destitution an opportunity to progress as we have.

That, the latter, can only be attained and achieved through informing deprived societies. How do we expect a society to identify its needs, if none of its members has the ability to differentiate between hunger and poverty? How do we expect a man in destitution and plenty to strive for emancipation of a larger group when all he knows is survival of his soul for today and not success for everyday and everyone?

I am appalled and hurt, at the same time, when all I hear is our government saying we need to develop our country, but all that we have is nothing but ourselves to loathe inside infrastructure we can’t break and build in no time due to cluelessness. I have seen many people take home University degrees, but none of them giving a child, a black child, an opportunity to become something much greater than the individual concerned. All we do is point at the white man while standing in front of our remote controlled gates that protect their R16 million mansions.

I am not taking away anything from those who have lived to fulfil my dissatisfactions and lead lavish lives simultaneously, I am merely pointing out that with few of such individuals we are going nowhere very fast and we as individuals need more of such natured individuals, but the reality and state of South Africans demands more of such individuals.

In my twenty two years of life, I have lived with the notion of transitioning from rags to a rich mind to rags. We must not just be rich people; we must be rich in mind and go back to the destitution and poverty stricken black societies and overthrow this volatile creation of past regimes by acquiring information and sharing it amongst each other. With all that said who is to carry out this vital mandate?

Our fathers of the struggle have laid a foundation for us to acquire information from Universities, international summits and through self emancipation. Those of us in parliaments, universities and business, must not go back to flash, but to emancipate those they were trapped in the closet of poverty and pain with. Involve them in business management planning, start groups that will spearhead community development through political forces and also create and make room for more of our own people in institutions of higher learning.

For many South Africans, apartheid hurt us and stole our identity, but it does not justify the fact that we, black people, are not making progress today. Similarly, it does not mean that those who were favoured by the system, white people, are exposed to all that we need and find rare. The system is not only killing us at this point, but those who designed it to perfection.

It is for the latter reason that we should not resurrect the system to become its drivers and trample over our own people. Rather, let us create a system that works for all of us through applying a fundamental strategy pointed out by Gibson Sakong, finger pointing individuals who will mediate information and translate it in our terms and conditions relevant to our needs.

By Eric Mbuyazi.

1. Limited financial resources
2. Lack of facilities and amenities
3. Lack of management and leadership skills
4. Negative competition instead of co-operation among community members
5. Weak institutions unable to shape and direct people`s lives, especially young people

In an effort to alleviate the effects of some of these challenges, two institutions at Moletlane, Zebediela in Limpopo, namely Bathokwa Football Club and Montshepetja Academy, entered into a partnership in December 2009 to work together in order to advance the common purposes of the two institutions. The essence of the partnership is to jointly host soccer tournaments at least two times a year, preferably during the Easter and Christmas holidays.

The tournaments have three main purposes: to provide players from the surrounding communities with opportunities to participate in better organized sporting activities, to provide practical learning opportunities to people wanting to gain understanding of management and leadership and to provide much-needed entertainment for soccer followers.

So far a total of three tournaments have been successfully hosted at Bathokwa Sportsfield. The first one was in December 2009, the second in April 2010 and the third in April 2011. All three tournaments were played with eight local teams and were attended well by supporters. Plans are already in place to brand the tournament and make it a permanent feature in the lives of the local people of Moletlane. There is currently a plan to add netball to the tournament while strategies are also being devised to improve the commercial or financial side of things in order to make the initiative sustainable. The biggest drive is to make the tournament attractive to the supporters so that they can be willing to part with the few rands required to watch the games. The tournament will rely on both players and officials to make it a success.

The tournament is possible under the management of a committee comprising Gilbert Makhubela and William Makwela – Managing Director and Club Manager respectively of Bathokwa FC, and Kabelo Sakong, Brand Manager of Montshepetja Academy. The committee is mandated to accomplish the objectives of both organisations. Kabelo Sakong also serves as the spokesperson of the committee.

“It is important to note that competitions of this nature can only be hosted successfully during holidays when ‘everyone’ is home on holiday,” said Kabelo Sakong, who added that the tournament also serves to keep youngsters off the streets.

We run small business initiatives at the tournament and charge spectator fees (entrance fee) as a way of raising revenue, thus ensuring that both organisations continue with community development on a sustainable basis. Revenue generation goes a long way towards helping both the tournament and the institutions involved, considering the prevailing bad socio-economic conditions in rural South Africa”, said the community activist.

“For Montshepetja Academy and its business wing, namely Montshepetja Business, this is part of our community outreach programme. The joint committee assists in the management and financial administration of the tournament in order to improve the standard and value of having the youth play football and other sporting codes in rural communities. We have a progressive plan, sustainable and aimed at ensuring that we have a tournament every Easter and December. Whenever there is financial loss, a report has to be compiled and submitted to stakeholders for them to understand how we incurred the loss and we together work out ways to guard against the same occurrence next time. The committee gives a report of every competition, and the report has to be presented to at the stakeholder meetings of both institutions. It is a tradition that we wish to encourage in the society and our partners in community development programmes,” Sakong remarked.

Sakong said that the practices aim to ensure and encourage financial transparency, responsibility, progress and sustainability in the administration of their institutions and also hopes to teach others. The management committee believes that accountability is vital, and it is of prime importance in their dealings with the community as this will in the long run ensure that their joint efforts at community upliftment have a lasting effect.

The competition is mainly a top eight (8) soccer tournament. Bathokwa FC as the host entered the competition with two teams i.e. Bathokwa Masters and Bathokwa Juniors. The six other competitors were Junior Aces, Mandebele (Juniors), Mandebele (Seniors), Moletlane Junior Swallows, Seleme FC and Experienced XI. The current Montshepetja Academy team, which is an under-15 team, is still too young to participate in the tournament.

For spectator fees to be charged the whole football field had to be enclosed with a sail. This was done a day before the start of the competition. This end was made achievable by the tireless and loyal efforts of all the junior members of Bathokwa FC who among others provided security at the event and guarded the sail parameters against trespassers. Sponsorship capital for the tournament is provided by Montshepetja Business. The capital is provided on condition it is returned without interest at the end of the activities or the conclusion of a particular tournament. Gibson Sakong, who is the chairman of both institutions, is responsible for strategic leadership. His views on the tournament are quoted below.

‘’The biggest long-term concern we have is that underdeveloped communities do not have either capacities or cultures to use soccer to train young people for things other than just soccer. Soccer should not be just about soccer. It should also be about proximity. It brings people together and, with creative courage, what we do with people once they are together is potentially more important than soccer itself.

Technical skills must be mastered and used to achieve the highest level of progress or success for soccer players. But universal skills such as communication, confidence, resilience, discipline, teamwork and other character habits should help young people to develop the staying power needed to withstand the challenges of growing up in an impoverished environment. They should help them to rise to the top of their careers no matter what direction they take in life. But too many of our young people shine in soccer for only a few years and then struggle to take their lives forward because of lack of discipline, inadequate preparation and poor support infrastructure. This is the greatest challenge that confronts many community development initiatives and is something we need to work hard against as we progress.” commented Gibson Sakong

Among other things, we hope to use the website space to make our humble contribution towards the process of creating a knowledge and competency based society through constructive conversations with our readers.