Sports facilities are notoriously dodgy at most township schools, with soccer and netball usually played on dusty and bumpy surfaces using well-worn equipment.
A possible solution to this — at least in the short term — would be for schools to use existing municipal sports facilities nearby to them, many of which lie dormant during weekdays.
But the situation in parts of Soweto — noticeably at Dobsonville Sports Stadium, which is only about 2km from Bhukulani Secondary School and about 2,5km from Simelane Secondary School — illustrates how this opportunity can remain unexploited. This is primarily because of the lack of a coordinated strategy between various levels of the government.
Ronnie Moloi, who manages sports at Bhukulani Secondary in Zondi, says that the school’s facilities means it is limited to offering soccer and netball — and even these are played on bumpy, unlevelled playing fields. But while the school does occasionally make use of the nearby stadium, the situation is far from ideal.
Says Moloi: ‘Communication between us and the regional sports and recreation office is not structured. We get so confused, we are not sure who to approach between the Gauteng department of education [GDE] and the municipal council”.
A further obstacle is the R250 the school is charged to use the stadium, says Moloi. ‘I strongly feel that if GDE and sports and recreation were pulling together, we should be using these facilities for free.”
Like most schools, it is left to teachers who are passionate about sport to organise and manage them — a fact that further blocks their development.
Moloi believes sports should be the responsibility of a qualified physical- education teacher — but since there is no post provided for this, ‘the school would have to be prepared to pay this person. Given the poverty here, this will be a tall order.”
Mandla Nkomo, a sports coordinator at Simelane Secondary, also feels frustrated by the limited support he gets in developing sports at his school. He says the regional office of sports and recreation does lend a hand on occasion, but its involvement is not formalised.
‘Our learners are enthusiastic about sports, but I think we could go much further if there were synergies between the GDE and the sports and recreation department,” he says.
Officials such as Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi and the local manager of sports and recreation, Mandla Mdlalose, paint a much prettier picture of cooperation and support. Yet, it is clear that the schools that are supposed to be on the receiving end of their efforts, wouldn’t agree.