CAPE TOWN: LANGA will be the place to be for this
years Red Tigers Juniors & Seniors Youth Day Tournament on
Thursday, June 16, 2022.
JUNE 16 is commemorated as Youth Day in South Africa, after the 1976
Soweto Uprising, which quickly spread to other parts of the country.
The Soweto uprising was a series of demonstrations and protests led
by black school children in South Africa that began on the morning of
June 16, 1976.
Students from numerous Sowetan schools in Johannesburg began to
protest in the streets of Soweto in response to the introduction of
Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools. It is estimated
that 20,000 students took part in the protests.
They were met with fierce police brutality and many were shot and
killed. The number of people killed in the uprising is usually given as
176, but estimates of up to 700 have been made. Dozens of other students
were injured.
In remembrance of these events, since the first democratic elections
in 1994, June 16 is now a public holiday in South Africa, named Youth
Day.
But this week’s June 16 events in Langa, Cape Town will see a basketball extravaganza at the Khulani High School.
Organisers have revealed that U13: joining fee is R200.
Prizes: Group A: R1500; Group B: R1500; Group C: R1500; Group D: R1500.
Also revealed is the Point System Rule.
For Seniors, a team with highest points in each group goes with a R1500 as their 1st prize.
The won’t be knockouts or semi finals.
If teams are equal on points, then goal difference will come into
effect, in other words if a team has scored more goals on that group
then they will go with the 1st prize.
Kickoff time is at 9am, with registration at 8:30am and the gate fee stands at R5.
CAPE TOWN: More than 1600 runners from Athletic Cubs
across the Cape Town and surrounds, traffic cops, SAPS, patrol safety,
media, sponsors, residents lining the streets and cheering runners on
and much more will form part of the festivities in the first ever
‘Retail Capital Langa Run for Freedom’.
Hosted by the Langa Athletics Club, the event will kick off at the
Langa Sports Stadium in Bitterhout Avenue at 7.15am, on Wednesday, April
27.
In South Africa this day is known as Freedom Day, after the first
democratic elections took place in the country on April 27 in 1994.
The running route will pass some of the township’s landmarks, such as
late South African Pop Queen Brenda Fassie’s home on Makana Circle.
Langa is the oldest surburb in Cape Town established in the 1920s and
community has produced many internationally acclaimed sports athletes,
artists and other professionals.
The Langa Athletics Club was establieshed in 2015 with the aim to
support and encourage participation in youth development programmes.
The club focuses on athletics and promoting and encouraging a healthy lifestyle in Langa and surrounding areas.
Aubrey Isaacs, Race organiser and chairperson of the Langa Athletics
Club, said the race was going to be a one of a kind experience.
“The idea behind this event is to bring together runners from across
the city in the spirit of peace and togetherness, to celebrate Freedom
Day and all that it represents,” he said.
Isaacs added: “We encourage runners to bring along friends and
families to support them and to soak up the township vibe on the day. We
know that, for many, this will be their first township experience and
we hope it will be the first of many.”
Isaacs, who was instrumental in establishing the Langa Athletics Club, said the event was a dream come true.
“We started the club with 20 members, and over the years we have
grown it to 350 members, some of whom reside in Langa and others in
nearby suburbs like Bonteheuwel and Hanover Park.”
The race is open to runners of all fitness levels and includes a 10km run for participating clubs and professional athletes.
In addition, there will be a 6km option for non-professional runners
who want to test their fitness and soak up the township experience.
Isaacs believes the timing is right to launch the Run for Freedom.
“Many people don’t know that sport and fitness are big in this
township. We have open-air gyms popping up everywhere recently,” noted
Isaacs.
Isaacs further remarked: “From an administration and organisational perspective, the club is ready.
“We are working closely with the traffic department and have roped in
our local community policing forum to safeguard the route. We intend to
establish it as Langa’s flagship running event.”
Entrants can register to participate on https://entryninja.co.za until Monday or at the venue on race day from 5am to 7am.
Entry fees range from R50 to R120 for the 10km run and from R20 to R30 for the 6km run.
The proceeds from the event will be invested back into the athletics club.
So if you are not yet sure of a way to spend the Freedom Day public
holiday, then you should be making your way to Langa and be part of
making history.
CAPE TOWN: iKhaya Le Langa uses people, planet,
profit (PPP) principles and sustainable business tourism to regenerate
the region.
As a host city to YPO EDGE, Cape Town, South Africa, was the
recipient of much of this generosity, some of it in the form of a
donation to iKhaya Le Langa, a movement to sustainably uplift Cape
Town’s oldest township, which is Langa.
In recent years, Langa had undergone a considerable revival, in
particular, the Langa Quarter which hosted 13 streets, 500 homes and
7000 people.
Now, it is a hub of cultural activity, jazz, street art, dance, and a
top-rated place to stay for tourists and locals alike. The Langa
Quarter is one of SA’s foremost success stories so far, forming part of
the greater iKhaya Le Langa (the house of sun) not-for-profit (NPO),
which aims to revitalise the region as a social enterprise precinct and
cleaner, greener, safer area of the township.
The NPO has accomplished much to date, showing how powerful community-NPO partnerships can be.
Founded by Tony Elvin, of Tony Elvin Associates SA , iKhaya Le Langa
uses people, planet, profit (PPP) principles and sustainable business
tourism to regenerate region, with the ambition to create a multi-racial
social destination.
The most recent development for the NPO is InSTED: The Institute for Sustainable Township Enterprise Development.
This initiative will operate from converted containers donated by YPO, following the recent YPO EDGE.
At the 2019 YPO EDGE Anthony Ginsberg, Managing Director of
GinsGlobal Index Fund and Chairman of YPO Financial Services Network,
said a common trait of leaders, which is evident in the 2019 Global
Leadership survey conducted by YPO (YPO.org) among the CEOs, is a
strong desire to give back and positively impact society.
Each year, business leaders from around the world gather for the YPO
EDGE, the organisation’s premier visionary showcase of thought
leadership and innovation.
For two days, members, convene with world-renowned thought leaders to
address key issues in business, politics, science, technology,
philanthropy and the humanities. The event, hosted on a different
continent each year, offers exceptional educational opportunities for
attendees while helping the global leaders of today shape the world of
tomorrow.
Paul Berman, Host City Chair of YPO EDGE says, “Collaborating with
Tony on the INSTED project is a way to sustainably entrench the
inspiration, hope and energy of YPO EDGE in a way that will bring
lasting benefits to the community of Langa and South Africa as a whole.
We believe that as a research and development facility, InSTED will
promote the partnerships and insights that could create real solutions
to the deep problems perpetuating from poverty. Langa Quarter is an
excellent example of how much can be achieved when we all work
together.”
InSTED will be an important way to communicate and implement all the
NPO’s learnings from the last ten years, including: developing Langa
Quarter into a prototype Social Enterprise Precinct through: proactively
zoning homes for hospitality; organizing the Langa Quarter
neighbourhood watch for a cleaner, greener, safer area; running the
Ambassador Program, which assists community members with job readiness
and personal development, to help divert unemployed youth away from
gangs, into full-time training and community-building activities.
Other focus areas include: Continuing Community-based Tourism (CBT)
Innovation by: developing the Langa Quarter Homestay Hotel, which is a
40-bed ‘homestay’ hotel consisting of 18 homes, with Airbnb endorsement
for accelerated growth; and running the Inter Community Tourism Agency,
which advocates for tourism in a township, not township tourism.
Additionally, InSTED will house the Academic Partnership Centre, as a
resource centre for interns, researchers and students, and it will
become a tech innovation hub, supporting Project UBU, which looks at
digital currency opportunities; YeboFresh, which assists with low-cost
township home food delivery; Micro Investing, which seeks opportunities
to use blockchain as a way to invest in Africa; and Quantum Economics,
which applies quantum physics principles to
economics.
The take out from this success story is that South African townships
have all the potential to become social enterprise precinct hubs of
industry and activity. This requires strong private-public partnerships,
with continued community buy-in.
Elvin says, “The tipping-point principle applies here. If we can
create cleaner, greener, safer neighbourhoods, with vibrant art and
music that celebrates the history and culture of our communities, we can
catalyse ongoing job creation through sustained tourism. Partnering
with Airbnb has helped bring credibility to accelerate the growth of our
Homestay Hotel. Working with community ambassadors has been critical to
making Langa safer. Joining forces with the Inter Community Tourism
Agency has been essential to making sure tourism is ‘done’ respectfully
and sustainably.”
And the big lesson is that, it is going to take all of us
collectively joining hands to really make a sustainable difference to
our country and its most vulnerable communities.
