What started as a joke for Catherine Jacobs (Ma Becky) turned into reality this week (20 July) as the Dynasty Ladies’ Football Club donated paint for her roof.
This 98-year-old lady joked about getting roof paint as a birthday present earlier this year, and the soccer club’s chairman, Gerhard Loggenberg was only too happy to help. Together with one of Davidsonville’s community leaders, Celeste Janse van Rensburg, Loggenberg delivered the paint. Upon arriving at Ma Becky’s home, she was found sitting in her back yard, enjoying the afternoon sun. When she saw the Record’s camera, she shook her head slightly indicating she will not be posing for any pictures, and efforts to convince her otherwise proved futile. However, she opened up about the recent service delivery protests that plagued Riverlea this week, proving that even though she’s 98 years old, she still has her finger on the world’s pulse.
“It is their right to protest if the municipality is not delivering, but stoning vehicles and property destruction is unnecessary and wrong,” she said.
After being told about the paint donation, a beautiful smile crossed Ma Becky’s face as she expressed her gratitude. “I was just making a joke about the paint, so this is a wonderful surprise. This is a dream come true and I would like to thank Gerhard, his football team and Celeste for their kindness,” she said.
The football club is involved in various community upliftment projects, including running a soup kitchen in Claremont. The club now wants to re-open a soup kitchen they previously operated in Davidsonville, where more than 300 children were fed.
“This was done with money from our own pockets. We are a community football club so we have to assist where we are needed and Ma Becky had a need. As chairman, I want to show my players what it means to help the community and lead by example. As we grow as a club, we have players from different backgrounds so positive activities such as this help the players get in touch with the needy,” he said.
“We are grateful we could contribute something towards Ma Becky because she is at a special age. Women like her should be honoured in the community as they have a wealth of knowledge we can all learn from,” added Celeste.
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