Speaking at the belated Joburg Open Pro-Am price-giving ceremony on the last day of the event, Mashaba gave official endorsement of the 42 year old golf course located in Pimville, Soweto by declaring that he aimed to make the club one of the best courses in the city of Joburg.
His utterances at the occasion tie with his team’s vision to take golf to the people – irrespective of class, as well as exposing potential sponsors to the further development of the club.
With another layer to the council’s vision tied toward contributing to the so-called township economy, by creating employment opportunities for Sowetans.
A further approach to the city’s ambition is to drive civic pride amongst the Pimville community through their taking ownership of what is essentially a rare facility in predominantly black neighbourhoods, by protecting it from the scourge of vandalism.
Phase one toward the refurbishment of the club has already seen the clubhouse being given a significant facelift in the form of improved shower facilities, restoration of the water and electricity supplies, a bright and airy lounge room adorned with images chronicling the upgrades and an impressive entrance bearing the place’s name in large, metallic letters.
Chairman of a club established back in 1975, David Dikobe, whose term at the helm has been extended by a further two years, vocally lamented the vandalism which resulted in the brazen stealing of the perimeter fence which used to extend all the way round the 18-hole golf course on the boundaries of Eldorado Park and Kliptown. Dikobe disclosed that this time around, the plan was to install an electrified perimeter.
As if having read the city council’s intentions, the chairman also spoke of the imperativeness of civic rendezvous with the local community geared towards making them appreciate that, inter alia, by some happening to reside in the vicinity of the golf course, it gave their houses favourable value on the property market. Dikobe mentioned the constant dumping of litter on the verges of the course, in addition to pedestrians cutting corners by straddling across the course en-route between Pimville and Eldorado Park, as hazards his team would like to ultimately see an end put to.
Presiding over a club with 200+ members, in addition to 600+ development players, Dikobe felt heartened by the active role Mashaba’s administration was undertaking, as well as the bargaining power of the executive director of the Sunshine Tour, Selwyn Nathan – as pertained the next phases of the club’s development.
Part of that will be making use of the expertise of staff from the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Clubs in the training of the Soweto Country Club’s green-keeping staff on maintenance of the course.
Yet apart from the infrastructure developmental side of things, the golf club, which rarely hosts prestigious events, embraced the pro-am with commendable efficiency over the two days it hosted an event initially scheduled as a precursor to the main 2017 edition of the Joburg Open, which was supposed to had taken place between 23 – 26 of February – but was postponed due to a waterlogged field owing to recent heavy rains, and subsequently declared unplayable.
The City of Joburg, under whose auspices the tournament is run, then decided to take the event to Soweto, and judging by how things unfolded, and the number and calibre of those who accepted the invitations and a chance, for some such as Moss Mashishi, to play in a former backyard – the decision proved to be slap bang on the money!
Dikobe can be proud that products and protégés from the club such as, Musiwalo Nethunzwi and Sipho Bujela, a duo who, although now sharing fairway walks with fellow professionals such as Ladies’ European Tour campaigner, Lejan Lewthwaite, Zander Lombard, burgeoning Qwa Qwa raised prospect, Makhetha Mazibuko, Siphiwe Siphayi and Toto Thimba – are graduates who honed their craft in the so-called “scratch leagues” and lined up in the 4-balls on “home turf”.
Organisers also reflected mindfulness to gender parity as there were lady players in each 4-ball, with the likes of the mayor’s wife, Connie being enthusiastically in the mix with the likes of Boxing South Africa’s Ntambi Ravele [who scooped a prize for hitting the ladies longest drive], widows, Bongi Mokaba and Nkhensani Chabane – in addition to pro, delectable Nobuhle Dlamini, amongst numerous other invitees.
At a course where the legendary Gary Player played on the occasion of his 80th birthday back in 2015 and 2016 Joburg Open winner, Haydn Porteous conducted a clinic, in addition to had once been visited by “the Big Easy”, Ernie Els – the male line-up was an embarrassment of luminaries such as nonagenarian “University of Makana graduate”, Andrew Mlangeni [whose spearheads an initiative involved in the raising of funds towards development], director of rules on the Sunshine Tour, Theo Manyama, integrity commissioner for the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Dr Ralph Mgijima, UDM honcho, General Bantu Holomisa, ex-PSL man, Andrew Dipela [whose missus happens to grow up around the golf course’s vicinity], Alex Hair proprietor, Alex Molokwane and Thomas Msengana [a keen player who also doubled as programme director at the gig].
This much was apparent that it wasn’t only a golfer such as ANC stalwart, Mlangeni who walks the talk, but also rising golfer, Siphiwe Siphayi [whose family once resided in Pimville, with his father, well-known businessman, Kenny still operating business concerns from just opposite the Maponya Mall up the road from the golf club], a picture of a smooth operator in personal sponsor’s Puma all black apparel – who donated golf shoes for some of the club’s development players.
Happening at the on-set of autumn, the golf course with some rather bumpy greens and punctuated by numerous bald patches along some of the fairways, was divided into two separate starting points at the first and ninth tees to accommodate the size of the playing field, with all 4-ball sets revolving around the course’s whole distance of 18-holes. Both starting points were populated with officials, marshals and sizeable spectators on the two days of play.
The occasion was punctuate with light relief from a white-bearded marshal perched upon a boulder who repeatedly urged the crowd at the top of his voice to keep quiet whenever players teed up, whilst wielding a sign board with the word, quiet inscribed on either side. “Shhh…!!!” he admonished those at the nearby dining area, who accompanied their bite with a bit of banter, gaily oblivious to the fact that they were situated near those areas of a golf course where silence is demanded in reverence to the main acts in the sport’s etiquette.
On the first day’s prize-giving ceremony, City Parks were acknowledged for ensuring that greens were green; gratitude was extended to those who facilitated toward the reality of a “hot shower” at the club; that invitees would go back to their various worlds whilst being able to gloat that, “we played the Joburg Open Pro-Am at the Soweto Country Club!”
The event was perhaps, best encapsulated by spokesperson for the Gauteng Provincial government, Thabo Masebe, who described the weather as providing a good reason to come to Soweto.
And as a sign that the Soweto Country Club is probably a deserving new home for the pro-am events to follow, one of its members, Bujela, accounted for an all-time record broken at the club, by becoming the new course record-holder with a score of 61!
The players whom the mayor thanked for accepting the invites to play did indeed reflect the City of Johannesburg’s objective to take golf to the people, irrespective of class given that the golfers on display were a mixed bag of pros, amateurs, ladies and gentlemen across varying age groups.
Since Sunshine Tour executive director, Selwyn Nathan has confirmed sponsors willing to partner in the development of what is really one of a very few golf courses in township areas, it becomes incumbent upon the community of Soweto, Pimville in particular, to put an end to the nonsensicality of vandalising public property – if such life affirming events are to come their way.
