Alex Tiger sets his sights on taking down teen and youth suicides
A lot of attention is, rightfully, paid to issues around gender-based violence and femicide but there are other issues that are also plaguing the community and need to be addressed, says Tiger Matholengwe.
The alarming spate of teenage and youth suicides in Alexandra irks the ‘tiger mentality’ in Alex Royal Tigers SC founder Tiger Matholengwe who has sprung into action to mobilise the community to stand up and curb the tide before it’s too late.
Speaking to Alex News in an interview, Matholengwe, who matriculated in 2016 but founded the sporting club while still a learner at Minerva High School in 2012 and in 2013 was the first and youngest coach to win a league title in Alexandra with his U13 side that he was coaching, said his club had been devastated by a teen player’s death by suicide a couple of years back.
“This incident irked the tiger in me, and I immediately joined forces with Famsa [Family And Marriage Society of South Africa] in Alexandra to provide counselling and therapy sessions to my boys in the club and this has paid dividends in boosting the morale and confidence of the players to face and take considered decisions on and off the field of play,” Matholengwe said.
Tiger, who incidentally got his nickname from his surname in which ‘mathole’ means cubs while ‘ingwe’ means tiger- put out a message recently on one of the many WhatsApp groups in Alex, and an equally concerned Ward 108 cllr Deborah Cashile Francisco responded immediately to his message.
“Cashile wants us to join forces to establish a programme where social workers can impart parenting skills to teenagers in her ward who are burdened by motherhood and fatherhood issues at this tender age.
“The problem is that some of these teenagers lost their parents and while they still need to be parented, they have incidentally become parents themselves and this tends to breed negativity and misunderstandings in the family that leads to suicides,” Matholengwe said.
He said he would like to see the Department of Social Development, Famsa, Grassroots Football, and other community organisations in the township getting involved in the project.
“I may be fighting the suicide battle and winning it within the club, but Alexandra is much bigger than my club. Hence, I want us all to be involved in the fight against this scourge which is depleting our future leaders, and this programme should also encompass sexuality and related educational issues on the subject,” Matholengwe said.
He said organisations and the community are now focused mainly on issues around gender-based violence and neglecting other social ills and issues such as teenage sex and pregnancies, drugs and alcohol abuse and the tendency of teenagers to become suicidal.
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