FROM STREET CORNERS TO STADIUM LIGHTS: MAYOR JOHN MPE UNVEILS THABO MAKUNYANE SPORTS COMPLEX TO RESCUE YOUTH FROM DRUGS AND CRIME
- Mpho Dube
- 42 minutes ago
- 3 min read
ANC-led Polokwane Municipality invests in Ward 08 to turn talent into opportunity and give young people a fighting chance
By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief
The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.
AZANIAFROCOMEDIA – The Catalyst of Impact
POLOKWANE — The cheers that echoed through Ward 08 yesterday weren’t just for a ribbon-cutting. They were for second chances.
Executive Mayor John Mpe, who also serves as ANC Deputy Provincial Chairperson, officially unveiled the Thabo Makunyane Sports Complex in Ext 44/78, Polokwane Sub-Region — a major facility built to do one thing: pull young people off the streets and onto the field.
“Today we are not just opening a sports ground. We are opening doors,” Mayor Mpe told a crowd that included the Makunyane family, traditional leaders, ANC leadership and hundreds of community members. “We are saying to our children: your future is not in drugs, it is not in alcohol, it is not in crime. Your future is here, in sport, in discipline, in community.”
The complex is named after the late Thabo Makunyane — liberation struggle veteran, Polokwane’s first Executive Mayor, and former ANC Member of Parliament. For Mayor Mpe, naming the facility after Makunyane was deliberate.
“Thabo Makunyane fought for freedom. Today we fight for the next generation’s freedom — freedom from poverty, from addiction, from hopelessness,” Mpe said. “This is how we honour our heroes: by continuing their work.”
The unveiling gives practical expression to the ANC’s 2021 Local Government Manifesto commitment to invest in sport and recreation as tools for youth development, social cohesion and healthy lifestyles. With local government’s term ending in November 2026, the ANC-led Polokwane Municipality says this is delivery, not promises.
More than grass and goalposts, the complex creates safe spaces where talent can be scouted, teams can train, and weekends can be spent in competition instead of on street corners.
“We are positioning Polokwane as a premier sports tourism destination,” Mpe announced. “But first, we must grow our own champions right here in Ward 08, in Ext 44, in Ext 78. When a child has a jersey and a coach, they have less time for trouble.”
Community members welcomed the facility as a turning point. For years, youth in the area have cited a lack of facilities as one of the drivers of substance abuse and petty crime. Now, they have floodlights, proper fields, and a name to live up to.
The bigger picture
Under Mayor Mpe’s leadership, the ANC-led municipality is rolling out infrastructure aimed at changing life outcomes, not just landscapes. Sports, he argues, is prevention. It’s mentorship. It’s jobs. It’s pride.
“As ANC government we are saying: we see you. We hear you. And we are investing in you,” Mpe concluded. “Let this ground produce the next Bafana star, the next athlete, the next community leader. That will be Thabo Makunyane’s greatest tribute.”
The event ended with exhibition matches, with young players from Ward 08 the first to run onto the new turf.
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