In an act of community and Ubuntu, a local company donated portable netball poles to the children of Ward 74 on Friday.
Ward 74 Clr Thulani Simelane approached different businesses and the owner of a New Era-based company, Leon van Rhys of VRS Fabrication and Welding, took on the task late last year.
“I’ve been a resident of Springs for 28 years. We started this company in 2020 with only two employees and since then have grown to employ about 12 people.
“We have been fortunate and blessed and that’s why we decided to give back and donate these poles to the community,” said van Rhys.
At the handover, community members and a representative of the Kwa-Thema Customer Care Centre (CCC) accompanied Simelane to express their gratitude.
“Deeds like these make a difference,” said Andile Njikelana from Kwa-Thema CCC.
“Our country faces so many challenges, but the little that we do will make us pull through. On behalf of the office and the manager, we extend our thanks.”
Simelane says the poles will belong to the entire community. He added sports and recreation ease the burden of restlessness and fight the drug scourge in its unique way.
“The challenge is we don’t have sporting facilities and equipment, and it makes the life of the youth very difficult.
“If we can get companies to invest more in sports and recreation to avoid the youth being tempted by crime and doing nothing, it would help,” he affirmed.
Van Rhys is excited to partner with his community to bring about better change.
“It took a while for us to manufacture and hopefully this will bring joy to the children. We hope we can help again in the future,” he said.
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