Joburg collects trophies

City staff won plenty of trophies in the OR Tambo Inter-Municipal Games, collecting the first win for the day in the ladies soccer tournament.
GERMISTON Stadium was a sea of colour when a host of municipal workers from 15 Gauteng municipalities competed in various sporting codes in the annual OR Tambo Inter-Municipal Games.

NetballCementing relations through sportThe games are aimed at fostering relations between municipal employees, and in honour of the anti-apartheid stalwart, Oliver Reginald Tambo. The games are an initiative of the South African Local Government Association (Salga). This year, they were held on Friday, 21 October.

On the day, a variety of games, including soccer, netball, volleyball, softball, road walking, running, squash, pistol shooting, morabaraba and chess, was played. The standards were set high as teams focused on scooping as many trophies as possible at the end of it all. A gruelling ladies soccer match between Johannesburg and Sedibeng District Municipality opened the games.

In the opening minutes Sedibeng looked like they could easily beat Joburg, as they enjoyed position, but it wasn’t to be. In the second half of the encounter Joburg capitalised on the mistakes of their opponents with a strike from Zanele Tshabalala to book themselves a place in the semi-finals.

With a group of fans cheering from the touchline, the Joburg women went on to stage a reign of terror against the West Rand District Municipality in the semis with a 7-O thrashing. To wrap it up, they defeated Emfulweni Local Municipality 2-0 to in the finals. The goals came from the foot of Daisy Moyahabo and Tshabalala.

Running
Joburg receives a trophy Joburg took first place in a number of disciplines Opposite the soccer field, there a tight competition was under way between the Joburg runners and their cross-border rivals, the City of Ekurhuleni. Ekurhuleni had the upper hand in this competition; they came first, leaving second spot for Joburg.

In what was a sweet revenge, Joburg redeemed themselves in a tennis game, where they took first position, while their arch rivals, Ekurhuleni and Efulweni, ate humble pie, to share second and third position respectively.

Other municipalities that gave it their all on the day included Lesedi Local Municipality, Metsweding District Municipality, Midvaal Local Municipality, Mogale City Local Municipality and Westonaria Local Municipality.

To wrap up the day-long activities, at sundown an awards ceremony was held to give the trophies to the winners.

Present at the ceremony were the members of the mayoral committee responsible for public safety, Matshidiso Mfikoe; and for community development, Chris Vondo; the Tambo family; and the MEC of housing, Humphrey Memezi.

Trophy
The next OR Tambo Games will be played in JoburgThe next OR Tambo Games will be played in JoburgVondo and Mfikoe regularly went up to the stage to collect many Joburg awards. The City took first position in a number of sporting codes, including, pistol shooting, soccer, morabaraba, tennis, volley ball, table tennis and squash.

Vondo, who represented Executive Mayor Parks Tau, also the provincial chairperson of Salga, paid a moving tribute to the struggle hero, Oliver Tambo.

“The OR Tambo Games are very important in building cohesions between employees. They also encourage us to live a healthy lifestyle and above all, it is in these games where we honour our gallant fighter and the hero of our struggle, Oliver Reginald Tambo – a man whom this country owes a great deal,” said Vondo.

He described Tambo as a conscientious nation builder. “He was a great unifier.”

Finally, the executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, Mondli Gungubele, handed over the torch to Vondo, as sign to show that the seventh OR Tambo Inter-Municipal Games will be hosted by Johannesburg.