Picture: The embattled mayor of Greater Taung Local Municipality/Tumisang Gaoraelwe
By OBAKENG MAJE
The winners of the Greater Taung Local Municipality (GTLM) 2023 Mayoral Cup competition have not received even a cent almost three months down the line. The GTLM Mayoral Cup competition that took place at Taung Agricultural College sports ground in June 2023, was organised by the embattled mayor, Tumisang Gaoraelwe.
One of the recipients who refused to be named for fear of reprisal said: “We are so disappointed by how the municipality is treating us. We had high hopes that the money would assist us financially in the long run.
“Now, what we are getting from the Office of the Mayor are excuses and empty promises. We have been trying to be civil with this matter and avoid involving the media in it, but nothing positive came out of those talks.”
The Dikgwamolelo FC won the soccer tournament after beating Mogopela Wonderous FC 1-0 in the final. The Ditshilong-based team was rewarded with a whopping R50 000.
The Greater Taung Local Municipality (GTLM) spokesperson, Ricky Oliphant said: “It is true that there has been a delay in payments for the mayoral cup. We understand that, 89 soccer teams and 22 netball teams participated in the competition and 8 soccer teams and 4 netball teams were eligible to receive prize money.
“In soccer, the winner was eligible to receive R50 000, the runners-up were supposed to get R25 000, 3rd and 4th were supposed to get R20 000 each. The 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th positions were supposed to get R5000 each. In netball, the winner was supposed to get R25 000, while the runners-up were supposed to get R15 000. The 3rd position was supposed to get R10 000, while the 4th position was supposed to get R5000.”
Oliphant further said the administrative process, which includes the submission of required documents and the approval process caused the delay. He added that, a total of R435 000 has been spent over two years in this competition.
“The mayoral competition assists in keeping young people off the streets for a while and gives them an opportunity to work towards realization of their dreams. It also exposes local talent to scouts and opportunities for informal trading are some of the benefits for the municipal area,” said Oliphant.
Meanwhile, one of the scouts at the cup competition, the Sekhukhune United FC Technical Director, Themba Sithole said during the interviews with Taung DailyNews that, the municipality should help the players by improving facilities. He said, if they want to see good football, the players should be given good surfaces to play on.
“It is important to have one or two surfaces, which are good so that these kinds of tournaments can be played in. When I was with Free State Stars FC, they signed a defender from this area. So, that is why when I was invited I said, let me come and see.
“However, on Saturday when I arrived, I thought it was a waste of time until the last game was played. So, today, the semi-finals and finals were quite good even though the majority of the teams were a little bit defensive,” Sithole said.
He said he was happy that they saw what they wanted to see. Sithole said they were going to take either eight or ten players for further assessment in Johannesburg.
“We will continue to keep in contact with local coaches. We have also selected two players, who are still doing Grade 12 and they will join us in December,” he said.
The Guardian 