The Bongi Mpanza finishes Women’s Month with a bang
Midas Sports Development in Eldorado Park hosts first tournament after level 4 restrictions.
The Bongi Mpanza annual tournament has been running since 2018 however Midas Sports Development has never had it this big before.
Tournament Director Shifa Fredericks shared that this is their third year running the tournament, which was named after the late Bongi Mpanza.
“She was a chef at first that found her love for soccer greater than she ever imagined, she wanted to change the lives of our youth through sports but she was taken too soon, I then followed in her footsteps and continued her legacy with the help of Inqubeko Sports Foundation and Alchemy Sports and Recreation as well as the involvement of the women in our community. We were able to create an amazing tournament that women and young ladies look forward to each year,” said Fredericks.
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The event was aimed this year to:
- Celebrate the strength of our women as we are battling to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and endemic social economic challenges,
- To celebrate women in sport (soccer, netball and touch rugby),
- To support the fight against patriarchy and gender-based violence.
Fredericks explained that they want to introduce sports to the younger ladies to keep them out of harm such as early pregnancies and away from bullies and drugs. She shared that they saw so much talent at the tournament that they would want to make the next tournament bigger and better.
‘We are extremely grateful for every participant that took part in making the day so beautiful. Women in power is what we strive to achieve. We had female managers, female teams, female DJ, females running the shops on the day, female umpires, this is an all-female development and empowering tournament. It’s time for our ladies to stand up and make the change that they would like to see not only in sport but in education as well. Do not only look to be a part of a team in the tournament, look to be a coach, a manager, an assistant, a referee, a first aider, a director, an entrepreneur, we can be anything we want to be, let the Bongi Mpanza Tournament not just be a name but be an inspiration and move us to betterment,” concluded Fredericks.
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