The Democratic Alliance Women’s Network (Dawn) in Limpopo last Thursday honoured and celebrated Beka Ntsanwisi founder of the province’s grannies soccer team, Vakhegula Vakhegula for bringing dignity and creating a sporting platform for the elderly.
Members of the network, led by Provincial Chairperson Desiree van der Walt, presented the DA Women’s Day award to Ntsanwisi at the party’s headquarters.
Vakhegula is a soccer team consisting of grannies aged from 55 to 84 and has represented the province and country on the international stage several times. The team has played in among others Russia, the United States of America and France. It was learnt that the grannies use the soccer pitch as a platform to fight domestic violence as well as therapy for their physical and emotional well-being.
When presenting the award, Van der Walt indicated that the accolade was aimed to honour women who do extraordinary things in the province. She emphasised that the award was last year given to the first black South African female wheelchair tennis player to compete at Wimbledon, Kgothatso Montjane. According to Van der Walt, women still experience abuse in the country and as such Dawn decided to use the accolade to honour women excelling in various things despite the rough times they go through. She clarified that the award was not only meant for women affiliated to the party but for all women in the province.
Ntsanwisi thanked the party for the recognition but stressed a need for financial support: “This is the first award we received since we came back from France. These kinds of gestures are encouraging because it is nice to know that people value the work we do. The biggest challenge we are facing is financial support. We always struggle with money and transportation when we visit other countries to represent Limpopo and South Africa. We request assistance from companies, Provincial Government, political parties and individuals. We have a trip to Australia in December hence we plead for the support.”
Ntsanwisi further highlighted that they were planning a mini-world cup in 2021 and reiterated that grannies’ teams from USA and France have already pledged their support.
Story and photo: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za
