One of the greatest abilities Nelson Mandela had was using sports as a tool to break down barriers and unite a divided South Africa. He as sportsman – an amateur boxer and soccer player – in his early life and saw the potential sport had to do well.
Any South African will remember that moment when captain Francois Pienaar, lifted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. We will all agree that it was not just about rugby, but Mandela consciously used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to knock down the last barriers of apartheid. Mandela then became a good luck charm to sports, often referred to as “the Madiba Magic.”
Mandela’s sporting journey did not end in 1995, after failing to win the bidding contest for the 2006 World Cup, Mandela took it upon himself to help campaign for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. His and South Africa’s perseverance paid off when South Africa was handed the biggest football event – for the first time in Africa. There was no other jovial time in South Africa like the 2010 World Cup.
One of the teams in the tournament
The power which sport possesses to build up communities lives on in South Africa. The Graca Machel Trust today celebrates the Tsietso Mocha Annual Tournament (TMAT), a registered non-profit organisation based in the North West province of South Africa that is using football as a way of giving the youth an opportunity to realise their sporting potential.
The TMAT was started by a football analyst, 30-year old Tsietso Mocha, from rural Kraaipan which is 65 km from a town called Mafikeng in South Africa. When Tsietso was still in school, he played football and dreamt of one day becoming a professional soccer player. Due to lack of resources however, his dream was never fulfilled. As a soccer journalist, Tsietso gained lot of experience as he engaged in lot of tournaments.
“At the beginning of 2017, I started to have dreams about my community and football and seeing how successful other tournaments are, I also decided to take that route. I decided to take everything I have gained and give it back to the community that raised me,”
He explained that many people are always looking at urban areas for soccer talent but not in the townships[1]. “In Kraaipan, there is lot of talent but we are failing to unearth it because people are only looking at urban areas. As a football analyst of Mogale FM a radio station which broadcasts in the West of Gauteng, I realized it is my duty to give back the experience I have acquired,” he says.
A second team in the tournament
Tsietso started the NPO alone but had a lot of support from his community who also believed in the dream of Kraaipan. TMAT had its first annual event this year during the Easter weekend. Even though there were no sponsors, the tournament was successful and fellow journalists and friends contributed with trophies and uniforms. The winning team walked away with a branded TMAT jersey and R2000. There were also atrophies for the player and goalkeeper of the tournament.
Overall, TMAT provides the players with an understanding of the importance of sports in the pursuit of a healthy and active lifestyle at a college level and beyond. It helps the players gain an appreciation of the concepts of fair play, honest competition and good sportsmanship to develop the capacity to maintain interest in a sport and to persevere in order to succeed.
The winning team
“The first tournament was an open edition therefore we had a lot of players in different age groups but going forward we would like to target children under 21. We target children who are still in school and those that are out of school,” Tsietso says.
On future plans for TMAT, Tsietso says in five years, the TMAT tournament should cover the whole North West province and get soccer talent scouts to come and identify young people with the potential to transform South Africa’s football prospects.
When asked what inspires him, Tsietso said, “When kids have sports as a distraction, it drives them away from partaking in substance abuse. To know that I am at least contributing to that makes me hopeful. Kraaipan is an amazing area with a lot of talented kids and I believe a lot of talent can be unearthed here.”
What change do you want to see happening in your community? You hold the power to ensure that this transformation happens. Take a stand like Nelson Mandela and Tsietso have and get those wheels of change moving. To learn more about the Graça Machel Trust’s Children’s Rights program and the work we are doing with the Mara out of school children in Tanzania, click here.
[1] Township – underdeveloped segregated urban areas in South Africa
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.