Gang den now 'theatre of hope'

SUCCESS: BUSINESSMAN TURNS DILAPIDATED SITE INTO STATE-OF-THE-ART TRAINING VENUE

- Jabulile Mbatha

Saddened and angered because a community park was becoming a dilapidated hangout for gangsters and drug dealers, a businessman rallied sponsors and the community to do what the local council couldn't: turn it into a vibrant sport centre that keeps kids off the streets.

It's simple, said Xolani Mathumbo, CEO of Remember Elite Sport Academy. "A child in sports is a child out of court."

Now the refurbished academy in Vereeniging is in a near stateof-the-art condition, standing out in a town full of potholes and broken-down structures.

Today it has green grass, grandstands, a fence, a gym, housing facilities for the players and support staff, a boardroom and other facilities for the more than 280 young players who participate in the academy.

It wasn't always like this, For over 10 years the facility was derelict, unfenced and overrun by drug users and criminals.

Mathumbo said once they built a 1.3km-long wall around the property, the station commander at the local police station told him that the crime rate dropped.

Soccer has always been a part of the Mathumbo family. More than a decade ago, his mother owned a soccer club called Remember Football Club and Mathumbo, once a player himself, remembers his childhood home always being occupied by soccer players needing shelter.