Pretoria - The donation of sporting equipment to young people in Winterveld will go a long way in keeping them off the streets, where they are vulnerable to negative influences such as substance abuse and crime.
This was the sentiment expressed the City of Tshwane’s MMC for community and social development services Peggy de Bruin, who recently led an official hand over of soccer and netball poles to the community.
The gesture by the municipality followed a request made by the community during the commemoration of the Winterveld massacre, which took place in 1986 at City Rocks soccer field, resulting in scores of people being killed.
De Bruin said: “Co-ordinators of the event comprising different stakeholders in Winterveld, namely, the Winterveld massacre committee, football associations and other community structures, put in the request to support soccer and netball activities in the area.”
She said the equipment would assist during practices and tournaments “which ultimately remove children from streets and away from negative influence”.
“This initiative is one of many interventions that the City is driving to empower youth through sport development and participation. We trust that the equipment will add value towards sport advancement in Winterveld and help develop home-grown future sport stars,” De Bruin said.
“The donation forms part of our strategic efforts to nurture sport development in our communities.
“The equipment comprises two sets of seven-a-side soccer poles and one set of netball poles and extra nets for future use.
“This was handed over to the representatives of the Winterveld local football association, Winterveld sports council, Winterveld netball association and Winterveld massacre committee.”
It was expected that community representatives would jointly manage the equipment and ensure fair usage by the different soccer and netball clubs in the area.
Pretoria News