Alex businessman takes youth off streets into soccer
Mboneni Manzere is an Alex businessman with his eyes not just on making a profit but also on taking care of the community, especially its children and youth, by ensuring they are taken off the streets and away from mischief into doing something that will preserve them for posterity.
Mboneni Manzere is an East Bank man that juggles his business operations between chasing profit on one hand and his unflinching love for the well-being of his community on the other.
Manzere has a particularly soft spot for children and youth of Alexandra, many of whom have fallen victim to the scourge of drugs, which prompted him to hatch a strategy of getting them off the drug hook.
He trades as TM Chisanyama and Car Wash on East Bank Avenue opposite East Bank High School where he first opened the car wash in 2008, followed by the chisanyama in 2012 after realising that people needed something to eat and drink while having their cars cleaned.
It is this business strength and the love for the community that he decided to team up with one of the local football clubs in the township as part of his efforts to take children and the youth off the streets and onto the playing fields of their number one love – soccer.
Manzere teamed up with Ma Afrika FC as a sponsor soon after its birth in 2012 which coincided with the opening of his chisanyama.
“I would like to urge other businesses in the township to join the fight against alcohol and drug abuse within our community by taking care of our children as the future leaders of the country. Without them our posterity is doomed.
“I also, together with the other directors of the club, would like to see Alex teams working closely to ensure the progression of an Alex outfit through the ranks up until the DStv Premiership,” Manzere said.
One of the biggest drawbacks of the club, Manzere said, was the lack of training facilities. “This is our biggest challenge and we cannot expect the team to do well in the field of play when it has no good facilities to ‘cook’ the players properly in readiness for the games.”
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