No funds for Mondlo champs

MONDLO Athletics Club members were unfortunately unable to head up to Cape Town to defend their titles in Cape Town this past weekend due to the lack of funding.

Ntshatiseng Molefe (15), who came in second position at the CELLC Day of Marathons in Johannesburg last week, and the team’s coach Innocent Ngema (who won the Solemate race) were set to head to Cape Town this past weekend to take part in the finals of the competition.

“It was a very sad experience for us but nothing we are not used to as we have had to miss out on some competitions due to the lack of funds,” said coach Innocent.

Innocent founded the club in 2012 after he saw how talented some of the young athletes in Mondlo were.
“I wanted to help these young people to cultivate their skills and despite my lack of money, I wanted to do this for my community,” said Innocent.

The team has over the years written numerous letters to AbaQulusi Municipality requesting funding but to no avail.
“We usually ask around for donations when we need entrance fees, transport and food money,” said the coach.

Members of the club do not just rely on handouts as they have done their best to raise funds one way or the other.
“Members of the team that are still in school have been selling sweets in order to try and raise money. Last year we raised R2000 with which we bought a trampoline that we hired out for a certain fee,” the coach explained.

The issue of not having money has also had a negative impact on the performance of the athletes who often barely get sleep at garages and police stations wherever they are set to run.

“We have girls in our team and sleeping at garages is not safe but there is nothing we can do. As the men in the team, we often take it upon ourselves to look out for them and stay awake while they sleep,” said Innocent.

The Vryheid Herald has contacted AbaQulusi Municipality with regards to how the athletes could receive funding and is awaiting comment.

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