Mpete Foundation on mission to fight crime in Ga-Rankuwa
The Mathews Mpete Foundation is on a mission to clean out substance abuse and fight crime at Ga-Rankuwa given the youth development activities and events.
In his quest to address social ills such as crime, substance abuse and prostitution and to provide basic support to the youth in Ga-Rankuwa, Mathews Mpete has founded the non-profit organisation, Mathews Mpete Foundation.
Mpete has been hosting sports tournaments, walks and marathons to keep kids busy with healthy activities and helping them to avoid wrong influences.
He said seeing young girls and boys parading the streets during the week and weekends because they had nothing to do, made him angry.
He felt like he needed to do something about the issue to ensure that the youth are occupied.
“The kids have plenty of time on their hands and they easily get involved in substance abuse and crime, which is escalating at an alarming rate and we need to use the facilities and information we have to save them,” he said.
He added that he knew relevant people and needed to use the information and resources at his disposal to help the community.
His selfless attitude has won him a lot of respect from communities north of Pretoria.
Since he started the foundation three years ago, it has been gaining a lot of support from people from all walks of life and the community at large.
He said giving back to the community brings a smile to his face because he sees the joy he brought to the faces of the kids involved in his foundation.
“As a journalist, I used to write about the good gestures that are being done by people and celebrating them and now I’m the one making those gestures and it feels so good,” he said.
He added that the work he’s doing through the foundation makes the parents happy as well.
The foundation hosts three major events a year including soccer, tennis, aerobics, netball, marathon and cycling tournaments.
To celebrate women on August 9, the foundation hosted a netball tournament for Women’s Day, and some communities north of Pretoria participated.
Mpete said the foundation was planning on launching a Netball League after realising that Ga-Rankuwa does not have one.
He said the support and encouraging comments he received have been helpful in growing the foundation, but they are currently struggling for sponsorship.
“We need sponsors. We have the Motsepe funeral home as sponsor thus far but we have been receiving some support from other people for our tournaments,” he said.
Contact Mpete on 082 346 9267 for more information or to join in the foundation’s activities.
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