10 years ago

A DREAM finally became a reality yesterday when the Rotary Lesedi Daycare Centre was officially opened. This daycare centre, which now looks after 144 children from the age of three months to six years, has grown from a shack into a brick structure, consisting of four classrooms, an office, kitchen and ablution facilities.

THE CONTROVERSIAL subbing of key Springbok players that gifted the recent Test match at Loftus to the All Blacks has been hotly debated by rugby supporters, and it has also resurrected memories of similar matches where coaches got it horribly wrong.

For this scribe, two matches stand out as examples of how coaches unwittingly contrived to donate the game to the opposition, both of them at Kings Park.

Who recalls the turning of the tide when the Boks played the British and Irish Lions in Durban in 2009? It was the first Test, and the Boks accelerated into a 26-7 lead after 50 minutes, having played near perfect rugby and on the back of a mighty scrumming performance.

The Bok coaching staff thought the game was won (does this sound familiar?) and on came a wave of substitutes, which not coincidentally resulted in the Lions hitting back in the scrums and scoring two tries to make it 21-26.

The substitutions had resulted in a surrendering of momentum for the Boks and it had opened the door for the Lions. Bok captain John Smit was one of those who had been substituted (what madness?!) but thankfully he found a way to get back on the field when his replacement, Deon Carstens, went down with an injury and

Smit came on to guide his team through a harrowing last 10 minutes to hang on for the win.

It is doubtful that anybody will ever own up to Carstens faking an injury but you have to speculate that it was the case, with the captain recognising that he had to get back on the field to turn the tide.

The Boks did win, but the fact that they ended up hanging on for dear life meant it was something of a Pyrrhic victory because the Lions went to Pretoria for the second Test buoyed by their comeback and confident that they could whip the Boks.

Had Peter de Villiers kept the winning combinations, notably in the front row, on for the full course of the match the Boks would have probably given the Lions a hiding. Instead, the Lions nearly won and they were consequently so full of confidence that the Boks had to produce a miracle comeback of their own to win the series in Pretoria.

Which brings us to the mother of all substitution cock-ups, one which won and lost a Super Rugby title in 2007.

We are talking about the Sharks’ coaching staff seemingly doing everything in their power to give the Bulls the opportunity to fight back and steal the first ever South African Super Rugby title.

To recap the pain for Sharks fans and the ecstasy for Bulls supporters, the Sharks seemingly had the game wrapped up at the three-quarter mark, at which point captain Smit and a host of other key Sharks made their way to the bench ...

Why on earth was the captain not left on the field to manage the inevitable drama of the last minutes? Why were key Boks pulled off at Loftus two weeks ago?

Why? Why? Why?

But back to 2007 and 54 000 fans watching the agony and the ecstasy unfold at Kings Park. Despite the Sharks’ substitutions, Albert van den Berg scored a try that should have sealed the match at 19-13 with the conversion to come and only two minutes left.

The problem was kicker Percy Montgomery had been subbed along with his captain, and AJ Venter was left to make sense of the bedlam. There was utter chaos in the Sharks ranks after the try, with nobody sure who should take the conversion. So instead of Smit being on the field to hand the ball to Percy, Venter gave in to an impetuous 20-year-old, Frans Steyn, who rushed the kick, missed it horribly, and thus opened the door for the Bulls ... Smit later said he shut himself in a change room cubicle and sobbed for five minutes. He was not alone ...

Yet coaches do not learn from history which categorically states: “Don’t change your players for the sake of changing!” THE CENTRALISED training camp for youth mentors was opened at the Air Defence Artillery School in Kimberley yesterday.

The camp is being presented by the Department of Social Development in partnership with the Department of Defence.

Over 500 youths from all nine provinces will participate in the training which aims to channel their natural leadership skills into sustainable projects in their communities.

From the central camp, youths will converge within their provinces with trainers to undergo mentorship training to develop their ideas for public good into sustainable projects that build cohesive communities.

Those participating in the camp were identified through their projects and initiatives that are already making a difference in their communities.

The Department of Social Development has been hosting the annual youth camps since December 2012.

According to the spokesperson for the national Department of Social Development, Lumka Oliphant, the camps serve as a springboard for the identification of emerging youth leaders who are empowered to influence positive social change in their communities.

“Youth camps provide an environment where young people are moulded, guided and skilled to enhance their sense of responsibility and maximise their individual and collective energies for personal development,” Oliphant stated.

“Through the camps, the department, together with its partners, mobilises the youth from diverse backgrounds to create dialogues on issues that affect them and their communities.”

Hosted under the theme “Be the Legacy: A generation of youth that will end gender-based violence”, this year’s camp format is, according to Oliphant, different in that instead of the youth from across the country being invited to one week-long camp, there will be 10 camps held in all provinces over a four-week period.

Three seven-day camps will run concurrently in three different provinces.

“The first camp will serve as a training programme for mentors who will be facilitators at provincial camps. During the mentors’ training camp, the mentors will be trained in effective communication and various topical issues that they will need to discuss when facilitating camps in their respective provinces.”

The mentorship programme is taking place during Department of Social Development Month, which coincides with Disability Rights Awareness Month.

Oliphant stated that an in-depth discussion on the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (WPRPD) will form part of the core sessions during the mentorship programme. “According to the 2017 Mid-Year Population Report by Stats SA, the average age of the country’s population is 25 years. The National Planning Commission reports that in South Africa, if young people fail to get a job by the age of 24, they are unlikely to ever find formal employment.”

Oliphant stated further that in dialogues with the youth, conducted by the Department of Social Development between December 2012 and June 2018, the youth revealed that they face a myriad of challenges which threaten their chances for prosperity and self-actualisation.

“Over and above issues of poverty, inequality and unemployment, young people say that they are threatened by a social ills including gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy and substance abuse.” – Patsy Beangstrom