Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Talented Cape Flats teens miss out on sports due to poverty
A HANOVER Park teen almost missed out on an opportunity to compete in a Western Province athletics competition at the weekend due to not having funds.
To compete, the teen needed about R2 000 to buy the required competition clothing. If it was not for a post on social media, the teen would have not got the opportunity to compete.
The 15-year-old boy is one of the thousands of youngsters from the Cape Flats, talented but poor, and thus missing out on opportunities. “I have had this question a number of times: Where are kids from poor families expected to get this money from?” asked Peter Hendricks. He is a teacher and sports co-ordinator at Mount View High in Hanover Park. For a decade, he has been moulding youngsters in the crime-ridden area so they can find hope in sports.
He said it was difficult when children who cannot even afford school fees are asked for money to participate in sports that could one day change their lives.
“I had seven kids who made teams years back. Only two could come up with the required money.”
He also told of a young boy who lived with parents who were addicted to drugs. “The boy was talented and he was selected but he did not have the required money. He could not go and he eventually dropped out of school.”
The boy later joined a gang and in a few years was killed by a rival gang. “It becomes challenging for us as teachers. We try to pay from our pockets at times but we can’t always do it.”
Community member Andrian Pender said it was easier for youngsters to
join gangs than participate in sport.
“Parents here barely make ends meet. We have lost talented youngsters to gangs because sports have become a commodity. The next Wayde van Niekerk is here in the Cape Flats but because of poverty, we can never produce him.”
Western Province Athletics chairperson Sharief Jefferies said they were not involved in school-level competitions.
“We are more of a club, we have club championships. We’re engaging with the department so we can get more
involved in school competitions.”
Western Province Education Department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said competition funding did not fall under the department: “Funding for the competitions is from the DCAS (Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport)”.
DCAS spokesperson Tania Colyn said the department covered the costs of all transport, accommodation, catering, first aid, toilets and sound for the inter-regional/districts High Schools Championships in Paarl (Dal Josaphat), and will be covering the costs of all the same items for the inter-regional/districts Primary Schools Championships this weekend. Attire is provided by the Athletics School Sport Structure at the regional/district level,” she said.
ANC education spokesperson in the Western Cape Legislature Khalid Sayed said: “The reality is that DCAS is being dishonest. We will ask this in the legislature if athletes are getting all the necessary support and we will require proof of this.”