YOUTH’S from various provinces of South Africa assembled at the NIKE Shapa Soweto sports complex in Klipspruit on the Friday of July 10 to participate in a Sports Development Clinic Festival hosted by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Occurring a week ahead of International Nelson Mandela Day the event was staged under the auspices of the NMCF Legacy Academy’s Youth Leadership Programme initiated to equip young people with leadership skills and encourage them to become active changemakers in their communities.
According to a media release provided, the initiative was formed to put Madiba’s belief in the transformative power of sport into action in order to realise healthier lifestyles.
Furthermore, the endeavour sought to revive township sports ecosystems and reclaim safe spaces for young people.
The occasion witnessed invited youth responding to the clarion call of, “Get off the phone, get on the court”, with adrenalin-charged gusto and enthusiasm as they immersed themselves in a variety of sporting activities.
The theme of the festival was in exhorting youth to counter rising digital dependency by reconnecting with physical needs.
An inaugural event, the festival was – according to the NMCF’s Youth Leadership Programme manager Samke Mnguni – prompted by a request, in 2025, from Hammanskraal and Mamelodi youth groups to be provided with other sporting alternatives to football.
Participants included players from Special Olympics South Africa, Soweto Basketball Academy, Phoenix Academy, Arekopaneng, et al. – with stakeholder NBA South Africa hosting a basketball clinic for some 45 boys and girls aged between 18, 12 and below.
In an interview on the sidelines of the festival, NBA South Africa honcho, Zeph Masote mentioned that his entity’s partnership with the NMCF harked back to the early 1990s when the National Basketball Association’s then commissioner David Stern forged a relationship with Nelson Mandela.
(The two gentlemen shared a belief that sport could help unite people across racial and social divides and their shared vision helped lay the foundation for the NBA’s long-term involvement in South Africa and across Africa – as has been manifested through clinics such as the Junior NBA Programme and Basketball Without Borders.)
Pointing out that basketball was the fastest growing sport by participation, Masote mentioned that his entity was in the process of rolling out 1000 courts across five African regional nodes during a ten year period.
And just before the commencement of the hoops clinic conducted by the Soweto Basketball Academy’s Vuyisile Sicebu and the Phoenix Academy’s Given Khobane, Masote urged participants to “play fair, play hard and do well.”
Also catering wellness activities and mentorship conversations geared towards the promotion of active living and positive choices, attendees were entertained by the performance of Biko’s Manna – the youthly music band made up of the trio of Nhlangothi siblings which reached the quarterfinals of Season 19 of America’s Got Talent in 2024.
A regular feature at NMCF events, the siblings’ mother, Ayanda, described the band’s association with the Fund as an organic partnership – adding that the NMCF was “an amplifier of the voices of children.
Image Jacob MAWELA (A group of youngsters limned participating in Basketball clinic conducted by NBA Africa hosted at the NIKE SHAPA-Soweto Complex.)
