Chronicle Editor
Descent Dube, Sports Reporter
TWO crossborder traders known as oMalayitsha, Bekithemba Ndebele and Progress Sibanda from Matobo District, donated kit, netball and soccer balls as well as training bips to four primary schools in their district on Saturday.
Nyashongwe, St Josephs, Nhlupho and St Lusiex are the primary schools that benefited from Ndebele and Sibanda’s benevolence. This was a follow-up donation to the one the pair made in late December.
The two said they started the initiative as a way of giving back to their community and assured them that it would get bigger in the coming years.
“Secondary school had a great impact on my life and, in fact, that’s where I realised how important it is to vow and say, in order for my community to be empowered, it needs to start with me as an individual. We then came up with an initiative Bepro, which we named after our first names,” said Ndebele.
They challenged other businesspeople from their community to rise to the occasion and take part in changing young people’s lives through sport.
“We hope our donation will be vital in changing lives of youngsters in the community by motivating and giving them hope that it is essential to participate in sports.
We have been inspired by the way South Africans promote grassroots sports, thus we decided to at least do it for our community as a starter.
“Most youngsters from our community dream of going to South Africa after finishing their O Levels or worse after completing Grade 7, but we’re trying to change that mindset by inspiring kids that there’s life through sport. South Africa is no longer the same as it was 20 years ago or so and because of that we’re trying to find a way to keep these kids at home so that they find a platform to make it to the professional arena,” he said. — @DecoDecent2
derick.khumalo