The last time Mokomene Ga-Ramokgopa made the news was in 2019 following the brutal murder of a young Capricorn TVET student, Precious Ramabulana. In the early hours of one fateful morning in November 2019, Ramabulana heard a knock on her room, refused to open before Aubrey Manaka forcefully gained entry. The 21-year-old was stabbed 90 times and raped by the intruder before she died.
Two years later, Manaka was handed two life sentences for the rape and murder of Ramabulana.
But that is not all there is to Mokomene Ga-Ramokgopa. The village inhabited by Batlokwa in the Capricorn district of Limpopo has some positive stories which rarely get the attention they deserve.
One such story is the rise of successful businessman, Thapelo Maifala from the dusty streets of Ga-Ramokgopa and his passion to lift up his community members out of poverty as well as his annual Thapelo Maifala Tournament (TMT) that is growing into a force to be reckoned with in the area.
Born and raised in the village, Maifala went on study Electrical Engineering after his matric. But soon after, tragedy struck in 1998 when his father passed on. Right there and then, funding for his studies dried up. At the tender age of 19, and as the only boy among his other female six siblings, the only thing Maifala could then graduate into was being the provider of the family.
For the next 10 years he would work for a chemical engineering company without any prior experience or training, with his situation back home and the need to see success in his family, being the driving force.
This was up until a telecommunications company sent some of its employees for training at the chemical engineering Maifala worked for and the bright star of Ga-Ramokgopa was ready to shine again.
“So, I trained these guys and their bosses took note and liked me from then on. They then asked me if I could come work for them and that is when I resigned,” says Maifala.
“And again, I did so without any prior training in the telecommunications industry, but I learnt on the job.”
But he was not yet done writing his own little history of Mokomene. In 2013, he then registered his own company, Omphile Masego Trading and Projects, and from then, Maifala was no longer just a provider for his family, but for the community.
“You see, when I grew up and I played soccer in Mokomene, we never had anybody come and say ‘guys, I am investing here in football or anything.’ And I have always felt that this village needed that, and when I had the means that is the one thing I sought to change in the community,” says Maifala, founder and sponsor of the annual TMT tournament.
“You will surprise at how many people I am helping. Almost anything that you can think of in this area, whether it’s football, netball, beauty contest and anything that can help give hope to the youth in the area and have them dream a little bigger, I am behind it.”
Last week Friday, on a chilly afternoon under very windy conditions that made football somewhat difficult to play on the dusty Makwetja Home Sweepers Grounds, Soek City FC from Soekmekaar beat Ga-Ramkgopha-based Masedi Liverpool FC 1-0 to win R50 000 in prize money, while the latter walked away R25 000 richer as runners-up.
There were other prizes, team and individual, for senior teams, the U15 as well as the Netball teams in the area.
According to the district development model profile and analysis, there were 680 841 people living in poverty in 2019 in the area, when using the upper poverty line of R1 227 per person per month, across Capricorn District Municipality. This according to the analysis, was lower than the 705 924 ten years before.
“The percentage of people living in poverty has decreased from 75.05% in 2008 to 65.75% in 2018. If the lower poverty line of R810 per person per month is utilised, then just under 50% of the population lives in poverty,” the analysis reads in part.
Lesiba Movalo, one of the dignitaries in attendance, has lauded Maifala’s effort to give back to the community.
“Soccer tournaments serve that purpose (giving back to the community) in which, amongst others, young talent can be recognised at an early age, children taken away from substances abuses like drugs, marijuana, etc., as well as getting involved crime. It helps drive their focus into sports,” says Movalo, an academic for the Department of Education.
“In terms of the education perspective, development happens in many ways; emotionally, physically and cognitively. We are of the opinion that some of the children are not good cognitively, but sports taps in to augment those who lack in those aspects and exposes their athletic strengths and other traits. Therefore, development of rural communities is of vital importance in such instances.”
Aki Caswell Phosa, TMT tournament Coordinator, says he would love to see the tournament grow.
“We want to collaborate with the local league so that the league can have a revenue in the end. We want to sustain sports in the community to deal with social issues. We hope to see everyone, especially youth participating in something. If they do not partake, they should form part of audience or even be part of committee in their respective teams,” says Phosa.
“In the coming years, we are going to form a choral choir so that if they battle at soccer or netball, afterwards they sing together in one choir.”
Maifala would love see the big football star come out of Ga-Ramokgopa.
“My ultimate goal is to help develop and grow every individual and ensure a bright future for every single one of them through inspiring, empowering and giving them hope to a better future. I want to produce one of the greatest players that will be in the PSL, because we never had any player go as far as international. That is our motive as TMT tournament.”
