Youngsters march for a good cause

It was on Thursday morning, June 25 when Bheki Mathelela and his peers embarked upon a peaceful march from Thebelihle to Ga-Nala Police Station to appeal for an opening of sporting facilities in the area.

He said this was after they travelled a back and forth trip to the police station and municipality to get a permit to resume with sporting activities after they were chased by police from the stadium in the area.

Bheki added that the march was also to seek justice for a young person who lost her life as a result of a car accident while jogging.

“It was not a protest, it was a march for justice for a youth member we lost to a car accident while jogging in the morning, after being chased out of the community stadium where we used to exercise. As young people, we are pleading that they open up the local facilities so they can be used because they prevent our youth from falling victims of alcohol and drug abuse,” he said.

“We handed our memorandum, to Kriel Police Station,” he added. Furthermore, Bheki said the re-opening of the stadium was their main concern, however, they also demand a public apology from the South African Police Service or whoever instructed them to chase them from the stadium to apologise to the family and the youngsters.”

The 22-year-old who described jogging as a therapeutic activity when explaining how they will manage to comply with the lockdown regulations said: “we will have a timetable in place to monitor groups and numbers and what times they should be using the stadium, we will have our masks and sanitizers whilst still maintaining social distancing.”

“Most of our young people are unemployed so staying at home doing nothing might motivate wrong behaviours, so jogging and exercising allow us to avoid such stressors, and it is very therapeutic,” he added.

The communications officer at Ga-Nala Police Station, Constable Angel Makhube indicated the youngsters protested and submitted their grievances at the wrong premises.

“We redirected them to the municipality because we do not deal with such issues unless there is a crime at the stadium, that is where we intervene.”

“Apparently they were chased by the ward councillor instead because the stadium is under renovations,” she added.