Peacemakers find peace with football

To the outside world the impoverished township of Alexandra, next to the wealthy and leafy suburb or Sandton, is a place synonymous with poverty and crime. But little do people know that if they looked beyond the unforgiving walls, they would discover a community of caring people.

One such human being is David Mthethwa.

He works as an assistant facilities manager at DRA Global during the day. However, in the late afternoon he makes his way home with passion in his heart.

Mthethwa has a project to uplift the community of unemployed young men and he does this through a sport he so loves, football, affectionately known as the beautiful game.

In 2005, he put a DRA staff soccer team together with the intention of having some fun kicking a ball around with his colleagues. But the men who joined the team turned out to be pretty serious about the game with quite a bit of talent for kicking the ball, and Mthethwa, upon realising this, quickly applied for affiliation to the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association.

“This move drove us to become stronger and we started recruiting younger players to beef up our squad,” he said. With some nurturing and intensive training, the small DRA team started to grow.

“I found I was recruiting quite a number of unemployed men with great potential. I knew that soccer would keep them focused on the positive and prevent them from turning to a life of crime. I knew because soccer saved me from such a life in my youth,” said Mthethwa who grew up in relative poverty.

“I have a passion for soccer. I grew up playing the game in the streets. It helped me focus and believe in myself. Soccer is good. It helps youngsters who just sit around… without a job.”

Word traveled around the Alex streets that if you played for the DRA team and remained committed, you could even end up being employed by the company.

And so the young men came with something positive to prove and a possible job to gain. At this stage, Mthethwa aptly named the team the DRA Peacemakers.

He also signed them up for the National Football Referees’ Association league in the 3rd division. They played hard and came 2nd in the league leading to a promotion to the 2nd division.

In 2008, they won the league and were promoted to the 1st division. “We may have started out small, but we are now one of the biggest teams in Alex,” said Mthethwa proudly.

“When we arrive at the stadium to play, people chant ‘DRA, DRA, DRA’.”

But Mthethwa realised it wasn’t easy keeping the team together. Sometimes there aren’t enough positions to be filled at the company and the men remain unemployed.

“There are so many players and it’s tough trying to help all of them. I cannot send them away without knowing they have some way of putting food on their table. They are my team, so they are my family,” he said.

Details: Zylvah Makola 011 896 1818; zylvah@listenup.co.za