Hlengisa and Litha crowned champs at tourney for primary schools

Hlengisa and Litha primary schools were crowned the winners of the Cape Flats Schools Sports and Lifeskills Tournament, in Gugulethu, on Friday, October 18.

The tournament for primary schools was organised by Siyavuselela, a non-profit organisation aimed at empowering the youth, at the NY14 sportsfield, also nicknamed ‘Eyadini’ and at Luzuko Primary School.

More than 24 schools participated in the netball and soccer tournament; with 14 coming from Gugulethu, five from Langa and the rest from New Crossroads and Nyanga.

Hlengisa Primary from Nyanga beat Gugulethu’s Vukukhanye Primary 6-4 in the netball final.

On the way to the netball knockout final, Hlengisa Primary beat Lwazi Primary 6-2, while Vukukhanye won 9-6 against John Pama Primary.

In the netball league results, Moshesh Primary won 7-3 against Nobantu Primary, Vuyani Primary lost 6-9 to Sokhanyo Primary, Luzuko Primary won 2-1 against Lehlohonolo Primary, Nomlinganiselo Primary won 5-0 against Siyabulela Primary and Bonga Primary won 4-3 against Sonwabo Primary.

Litha Primary beat Nobantu Primary4-2 in the soccer final to be crowned the 2024 champions.

On the way to the knockout final, Litha Primary won 4-2 on penalties against Bonga Primary. Nobantu won 4-1 against Sonwabo.

In the soccer league results, Cape Town Roses played to a goalless draw against Moshesh Primary, Vuyani Primary won 1-0 against Sokhanyo Primary, and Vukukhanye Primary won 2-1 against Nomlinganiselo Primary. Luzuko won 1-0 against Lehlohonolo, and Lwazi drew 4-4 against Siyabulela.

The organisers said their goal is to pour back into society through sports and life-skills programmes. They can only do this with the support of financial backing from the government and the public.

“The means what we did for us to pull off the tournament this past Friday was not normal. On Friday we had one ball, when it got kicked against the fence and burst, we had to run across the street to ask for a ball from one of the coaches,” said the organising committee.

They said the children were missing out on being children and “just playing”. The tournament is broken down into a knockout and a league set-up.

“The set-up was just beautiful eKasi. You can see the children seating down. You can see trains passing and you can see older people watching. We can’t give up. We want to reach all the children and we need provincial and national government’s support to adopt this programme,“ said the organising committee.

The plan, they said, is to keep the youth busy after school, as well as to develop a consistent programme for school holidays.

“When you go to NY8 these boys are there. We won’t understand when they go and do house breakings. But when we do things like these, we keep them away from these problems, including other social ills for girls. Together, we can easily build on this programme so that it keeps the youth busy during the upcoming festive season.”

The principal at Litha Primary, Silulami Nkqezo hailed the event as a great initiative to promote young leaders through sport in society.

“Thanks to Siyavuselela and their team for the passion and determination for making sure that our children in Gugulethu are removed from the street corner and have something constructive to do. Wishing you all the best in your future endeavours. Learn from your ups and downs and move forward,” said Mr Nkqezo.

To support the initiative, email the organisers at siyavuselelasports@gmail.com