Johannesburg – Sport has the power to change one’s fortunes and set one for a life of riches and stardom.
Thanks to this power, one’s background and limited resources become irrelevant. Springbok Rugby winner Makazole Mapimpi is one testimony to this.
Organisations are working in the background to unearth more Mapimpis, but they encounter mountains of challenges that threaten to shut their doors.
The Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute (GWRI), established in 2020 but officially launched in March 2021, was meant to be a beacon of hope for young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds who have the potential to become great rugby players and emulate the likes of Mapimpi. The GWRI prides itself as the country’s first rugby women’s institute to nurture and sharpen these young women in rugby.
Currently, 32 women between 18 and 24 are registered with the institution full-time. The institute also works with learners from at least 137 schools in Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng. The institute’s founder and coach, Jaco Coetzer, from Valke Rugby Union, says he noticed a massive gap in women’s rugby in the country when South Africa hosted the 2019 Rugby, Africa Women’s Cup.
“To close the gender gap in women’s rugby, I created the GWRI. The institute is a step in the right direction,” said Coetzer.
With the vision of empowering women rugby players, the institute encountered a few challenges, one of them being that universities and other institutions do not award scholarships or grants to female rugby players.
“Valke Rugby Union’s development strategy has developed a strong foundation for young girls to play rugby at the school level, but nowhere in South Africa is there a path for girls to leave school,” he said.
Coetzer added that they wanted the programme to go beyond high school so that the girls have something to fall back on even after matric. That is when the institution came to life in 2020. The programme is of no cost to these girls. Several prospective sponsors pledged to support the institute at its launch, including the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, but haven’t kept their promises. Atlas Foundation is the organisation’s only sponsor, a charity organisation in the United Kingdom aimed at helping deprived children, working towards a better future through rugby communities.
Despite Atlas’ financial support, the institute finds itself on the verge of eviction from the Nigel High School property, where it operates. The looming removal is after the organisation’s inability to pay its water and electricity bills. The financial crisis came after Nhlululo Development, a service provider appointed by the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, made the runs with money amounting to R180 000 for the institute’s coaching clinic and capacity building. According to Coetzer, the department paid the service provider on February 25, 2022.
“The amount of the programme we did in January this year, the cost to us was R180 000. We had to be repaid the costs, and they paid the service provider R194 101, for which they were supposed to pay us our costs. They already made R40 000 for doing nothing, but now they have disappeared with our money,” said Coetzer.
He added they had exhausted all means to recover the money that the service provider duped them out of. He tried to open a criminal case against the service provider but said the police told him he could not lay a charge because he was the third party. He went as far as tracking down the suspect, whose real name is suspected to be Tlangelani Rekhotso. A WhatsApp exchange between Coetzer and Rekhotso under the alias Hosi Mahatlani, one of the multiple aliases allegedly used by the representative of Nhlululo Development, showed that Coetzer pleaded with the man to pay back the money.
However, the man in question replied, “I did not steal from you, chief. That is government money.” He alleged that he called the suspect’s ex-wife, who told him that this was not the first time she had received similar calls about her ex-husband. An emotional Coetzer, who could not hold back his tears as he spoke about the institute’s predicament, said he felt let down by those who were meant to work with the non-profit organisation (NPO).
“It is not the people we work with on the ground from the government that are the issue. The officials that we work with are doing a magnificent job, but they do not get support from the top,” he said.
Coetzer maintained the NPO created hope for the girls, and the thought of the organisation permanently shutting its doors breaks his heart because he feels he is failing not only the girls at the institution but their families and other people in the various townships. He said these girls reminded him of Mapimpi’s story.
“We gave them so much hope. We cannot take that away from them. Some of these girls come from very dark backgrounds. If we send them back home, they will be worse off. I cannot have that. I do not want to fail them,” said a tearful Coetzer.
To keep the organisation afloat, Coetzer took a loan of R450 000, while his two associates took out loans of R150 000 and R100 000, respectively.
“We are surviving on the breadline. We borrowed money to keep food on the table and the place running because this is what we believe in and is our passion. We decided that if nobody would fight for these girls, we would,” he said.
Not oblivious to the institute’s ongoing nightmare, the girls are hopeful that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. They said going back home would shatter their dreams. Sinelitha Noxeke from the Eastern Cape is a newly elected junior Springbok player. She was selected at the junior tryout tournaments in Cape Town in August. The GWRI had to hire the cheapest bus they could get, which was R60 000, adding to its financial constraints.
Noxeke said the institute had assisted her from the trauma she experienced. However, she is now concerned about her future given its current crisis. The institution planned to develop these young girls, other than improving their rugby skills, through short courses such as sports management.
“We are not studying. Let us say I get injured on the field. What would I be without education? I wanted to do a sports management course, but I have not started because of the current situation,” Noxeke said.
Aside from the educational aspects, the financial pressure also limits the institution from providing healthy meals for the players.
“We survive on basic foods because the institution cannot afford to buy us healthy meals that rugby are supposed to eat. The state of affairs is heartbreaking as this is my opportunity for a better life. I’m not the smartest person academically, but I know I have what it takes to play rugby. I’m sad I might have to go back home,” said Lesego Mdhluli.
Mdhuli said she wanted to use her talent to take her family out of poverty. She coaches the Valke Rugby Union under 16 team as part of her way to play a role in making a difference in women’s rugby in the country. On Thursday morning, Coetzer received communication from the school that they would be evicted by Friday if the institute did not settle its bill by 10 am that Friday.
