Two avid rugby fans, Bernard Ndobela, and his fiancé, Palesa Majela, have joined forces to form Amaqwathi Sports and Education Foundation, a non-profit company (NPC).
“We decided to form the foundation to promote sports so that cohesion can be established among the youth in the struggling Matjhabeng community. We saw a need and we believe sport will help create discipline among this group.
“Mine closures have adversely affected sport structures in the Goldfields,” says Ndobela.
The couple, both keen lovers of the sport, are also passionate rugby players in their own right.
Ndobela is a former police officer and at a time played for the Welkom police’s rugby team, Bobbies, while he was still in service. He also coaches school teams in Thabong.
But now Ndobela has hung up his boots. He played for the Welkom Rugby Club, but has now become the coach of their women’s rugby team.
Majela is one of his players. She is new to the rugby field, and swopped her spikes for togs in 2022, when she first began playing rugby.
“I was an athlete all my life, but a sports injury stopped this and now rugby has replaced my passion,” she says.
The couple are planning to hold an international Heritage Day rugby tournament in Welkom from 23 to 25 September.
Seventeen South African teams, two teams from Lesotho, and one team from Botswana have been invited to take part. A total of 500 players will converge on Welkom for the three-day tournament.
Both men and women will be permitted to enter their respective teams. In the ladies stream there will be eight teams split between two pools, competing over the three days. In the men’s stream there will be twelve teams, with four teams split between three pools over the tournament’s duration.
Big prize money is at play with the men’s tournament winner bagging R30 000, and the ladies pocketing R12 000.
The NPC is affiliated with the Griffons Rugby Union.
“Our main focus is in sports developement as a means of recreation. We believe that through sports we can tackle many of our social issues,” says Ndobela.
For more information concerning the tournament, contact Ndobela on 063-988-9015 or Foreman Ramokoena on 079-974-9242.
