YOUNGSTERS DREAM OF PLAYING AT THE HOME OF REAL MADRID COMES TRUE

Rising football star, Asivuyise Ndzamela, has a lot to be proud of after helping his School, Barkerville Junior Secondary School, win a trip to Madrid, Spain, to compete in the Danone Nations Cup World Finals.  There will be 40 countries competing in this, the largest tournament for children between the ages of 10 and 12 in the world. 

Barkerville Junior Secondary School started campaigning for Spain back in February.  After a gruelling elimination process they managed to become the Eastern Cape Provincial champions and on to Gauteng for the National Finals, beating Kgwahlele Primary from Limpopo 1 – 0 to take top honours.

For the talented and ambitious central defender from Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape, travelling to Spain is not just a once in a lifetime sporting occasion but an inspiration for the future:  “Through winning the Danone Nations Cup and to be travelling to Spain in October, I have realised that dreams do come true and sometimes our dreams are closer than what we think”.

Ndzamela, who dreams of becoming a doctor and making a difference in his community, has identified his grandmother as his biggest motivator:   “My grandmother is very strong and has taught me how to persevere. Through those lessons I’ve gone from playing soccer with a ball made from plastic bags and goal posts made from mud bricks to going to represent my country in Spain, even playing at the home ground of Real Madrid. I hope to make my country and the people of Mount frère very proud.”

The 40 countries competing in the 2011 Danone Nations Cup World Finals will arrive in Spain on 5 October and a draw will take place to determine the fixtures.  The Group round robin stage kicks-off on 6 October.  On 9 October all countries will play their final games in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the home ground of Real Madrid.  Walking around the field and watching all the teams in action will be none other than the Danone Nations Cup ambassador, Zinedine Zidane.

Group Danone, one of the world’s largest producers of fresh dairy products, started the competition in 2000 with the desire to act sustainably on behalf of children’s well-being and health. “Football as a universal sport is the perfect way to promote values like fair play, the pleasure of the game, team spirit, sharing -and above all- human values like openness, and respect”, explains Sandra Dorville, communications manager of Danone South Africa.

“By bringing healthy food and some good healthy fun together, children learn about life through a shared experience. And to those who get to the world finals, it is an experience that will undoubtedly become a cherished memory,” says Dorville.

With the abundance of talent in the Barkerville side and the leadership and composure of Ndzamela in defence, as well as the burning desire for success that the boys from the Eastern Cape posses, the Nation can’t help but be optimistic, with a certain degree of belief that our boys can once again return with the coveted title of world champs.

For many of these boys, if not all, this will be the third time they will be leaving the dusty roads of Mount Frere and the first time they will ever have the experience of flying across the world to get firsthand experience of European culture.  This experience will be life changing and will impact the boys for the rest of their lives.

Ndzamela (Blue) breaks away with the ball

Ndzamela (Blue) tussles with his opponent

KwaZulu - Natal school unveils its Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup legacy projects

Sitting on bricks and sharing desks is now a thing of the past for pupils from Siyangempumelelo High School in Kwa Ceza village, KwaZulu- Natal. The School received desks, chairs and stationary from the R100 000 prize money they received as the 2010 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Champions.

The unveiling of the goods happened at the school on Friday, 26 August and there to celebrate with the school were representatives from Sanlam, the Motsepe Family Foundation, the Ubuntu-Botho Development Trust, the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA) and the KwaZulu Natal Department of Education and the local Chief.

In accordance to the rules of the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup all prize money is used to fund legacy projects that will benefit the school as a whole.  In the case of Siyangempumelelo they requested 150 double desks, 75 chairs, 5 High back leather chairs, 3 chalkboards and 1 flip chart.

School Principal, Ndzumo Sibisi, conveyed his heartfelt appreciation for what the school received: “This is all going to ensure that our school functions like any other school. This village has very limited infrastructure and things have been very tough as we have over 850 students.  At times we used to close school early for grade 10 and 11 learners in order to have enough chairs and tables for our afternoon classes with the grade 12’s. Now the students can spend more time at school and I am sure our Matric pass rate will subsequently get even better.”

The school has produced outstanding school results for the past three years despite their circumstances: 82 % pass rate in 2008, 94.2 % past rate in 2009 and 100 % pass rate last year with 5 of their students receiving more than one distinction.  Sibisi believes that his learners will now function better in their new environment.

Team manager, Wethu Nxumalo, praised his team for making this possible: “Our football team has done the school proud. I cannot express in words my gratitude to the Sanlam and the Motsepe Family Foundation for this tournament that does so much for schools in South Africa.”

Siyangempumelelo first competed in the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup in 2008; they have won the Provincial finals and therefore competed in the National Finals once, in 2010.

Run under the auspices of the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA), the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup is the biggest schools football tournament in the country with the most prize money which is R3.4million. The winner gets R1 million, R600 000 for the runners-up, R500 000 and R400 000 for third- and fourth-place finishers respectively. Each school that wins their Provincial final receives R100 000.

Pictures of the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Parade

Frank Louw from Sanlam with the Harmony School Banner

Photo of the team a the school and prior to the parade

Former Mamelodi Sundowns player Joas Magolego during soccer clinic at Harmony High School

Trott Moloto and Mamelodi Sundowns Legends with 2011 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Champions Harmony High School

MAMELODI SUNDOWNS LEGENDS SHARE SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE WITH 2011 SANLAM KAY MOTSEPE SCHOOLS CUP CHAMPIONS HARMONY HIGH SCHOOL

The 2011 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Champions, Harmony High School, paraded their newly won trophy through the streets of Virginia on Saturday, 6 August, in an open air bus and residents of Glen Harmony location lined the streets to celebrate with their famous football school. 

In attendance was Mamelodi Sundowns legends Isaac Shaai, Eric Ramasike, Joel ‘Fire’ Masilela, Joas Magolego and Malombo Lechaba. The two have attended all Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Provincial finals as well as the National Finals and after the celebration parade the two gave coaching clinic at the school.

Harmony has now won the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup three times:  2005, 2007 and 2011. As well as earning the school a cool R1 million, which will be spent on legacy projects selected by the School, the players each received medals which they get to keep as a memento of their success.

School Principal, Andrew Monnane, informed the community that approximately 75% of the winnings will be spent on purchasing two 15 seater Combi’s to be used exclusively to transport the Netball and Volleyball team on their various sporting trips.  The remainder of the funds will be used to build a volleyball court.

“Everything we have received from our Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup winnings over the years has been spent on purchases that have enabled the school to function more effectively,” said Monnane. “Our school philosophy is to ensure that all pupils do well in the classroom as well as participate in a couple of sports.  We believe this is important in developing a well rounded pupil.”

To date the school has received:  a new soccer pitch (2005 winnings), upgraded sporting facilities (2007 & 2008 winnings), built a media center equipped with 16 Computers (2009 winnings), a luxury bus to transport children to extra mural activities and extra lessons, Projector and Plasma (2010 winnings).

Harmony coach, Pitso Mokoena, is proud of the schools success:  “We lost eight of our players to the Sundowns Academy this year so we had to build a completely new team and entered the competition not knowing how we would do, but it is history now and today we celebrated our win with our community.”

Mokoena praised team captain and goalkeeper, Thuto Ramaili, for the key role he played in the team’s success.   Ramaili has been with the team for three years now and performed exceptionally well this year, but his key strength was his ability to motivate and guide the team.

The decision to honour the team through a victory parade was the brain child of Sanlam Sponsorship manager, Frank Louw: “Sanlam understands the value of development and the importance of realising what one hopes for. We believe that the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup creates opportunities that have a positive impact on the youth and also provide exposure to scouts for those pupils who have talent. Importantly, the tournament also contributes to enhanced learning through improved educational facilities for the benefit of the rest of pupils in the winning schools and the broader communities around them.”

Saturday's Hero's Parade for the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Cup

The Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup finishes off this weekend with a parade in Virginia in the Free State. Harmony Academy won the event and are going to get R 1 000 000 to use on legacy projects. Harmony Academy is well known in South Africa for their soccer history but the area is also known for its Gold mining producing one of the world’s richest gold mining regions.

The town’s name comes from 2 railway surveyors from Virginia in the United States who in 1890 etched their names and birthplace on a boulder near the farm Merrispruit. When the railway siding was established the name was adopted. The next significant date was in 1955 when gold was found on the banks of the Sand River.

It is significant to know that, during the apartheid era, black people were not allowed to live in the town and had to commute from Meloding. This is quite fascinating since Harmony Academy is a predominantly black school and they have uplifted the area due to their soccer skills. Another interesting fact is that the town exists due to the various gold mines that are in the area and they have been built on the blood and sweat of their black workers.

Naturally the kids that will be involved in the parade will not be thinking about the history of the area when they drive through on their open bus. They are the future of the area and they will just be thinking about the future that they are about to create for themselves.

About the mine

The Harmony Free State Operations are located on the south-western corner of the Witwatersrand Basin, between the towns of Allanridge, Welkom, Theunissen and Virginia. The basin, situated on the Kaapvaal Craton, has been filled by a 6-kilometre thick succession of sedimentary rocks, which extends laterally for hundreds of kilometers.

The Free State goldfield is divided into two sections, cut by the north-south De Bron Fault. This major structure has a vertical displacement of about 1 500m in the region of Bambanani, as well as a lateral shift of 4km. This lateral shift can allow a reconstruction of the orebodies of Unisel to the west of the De Bron and Merriespruit to the east. A number of other major faults (Stuirmanspan, Dagbreek, Arrarat and Eureka) lie parallel to the De Bron Fault.

The western margin area is bound by synclines and reverse thrust faults and is structurally complex. Towards the south and east, reefs sub-crop against overlying strata, eventually cutting out against the Karoo to the east of the lease area.

Mining that has taken place is mostly deep-level underground mining, exploiting the narrow, generally shallow dipping tabular reefs.

The Basal Reef is the most common reef and is mined at nearly all the shafts. It varies from a single pebble lag to channels of more than 2m in thickness. It is commonly overlain by shale, which gets thicker further North.

The second major reef is the Leader Reef, located 15-20m above the Basal Reef. This is mostly mined by the shafts in the South. The reef consists of multiple conglomerate units, separated by thin quartzitic zones, often getting up to 4 m thick.