Patrick Maphoso, a prominent South African in Ireland, has set up the African Schools Sports Association (ASSA), which sponsored a soccer tournament in South Africa in December.

ASSA held the tournament near the small town of Tuang, in the Northern Cape. Around 23 schools in the region took part in the tournament. Rabodige Primary School were crowned the winners of the primary school category, after beating Baisitse Primary 2-0. In the secondary schools category, Kgosi Lethola beat St Paul’s Middle School 3-1. The main aim of ASSA is to educate children through sport, keeping them occupied and away from the streets, avoiding crime and the use of drugs.

» Read more at The South African website

Next Wednesday, the finals will be held in North West (Taung).

We thank our supporters and sponsors who made it possible.

I will be leaving Ireland tonight to attend and wish all the teams good luck!

“It’s about time that South Africans abroad do something and stop moaning about things back home.”

Patrick Maphoso has been living in Ireland since 2001, and is passionate about making a difference back home in South Africa.

Maphoso grew up in Pampierstad, a small town in the North West Province. Growing up in a small town “was good” says Maphoso, “we are a very close community, and everyone knows each other.”

While working as the security manager at Fourways Mall in Johannesburg in 2001, he was recruited by an Irish company who came to South Africa looking for security officers. “The money I was getting compared to the money I was going to get over here was one of the main reasons for moving” explains Maphoso.

» Read more of this story at The South African website

Every time I visited my mum in Johannesburg I had to get a school pass to travel and had to produce it on demand by the police. I used to defy the policy by throwing it away once I was on the train. I was arrested many times for refusing to produce my school pass; I was not allowed on the streets of Johannesburg without it, especially in the suburbs. If your were found on the street, you’d be asked by the police and asked where you were going; failure to produce a Dompas (ID required under the pass laws) or school pass would lead to immediate arrest.

In towns there were supermarkets with 2 doors, a small door for blacks only and the other one only for ‘Whites’. If you were non-white, you’d tell the white lady behind the counter what you wanted and she would walk to the shelves and pick it up for you; all Black, ‘Coloured’ or ‘Indian’ people were automatically suspected of being criminals, based solely on non-whiteness of their skin. If you were white you’d just walk in, select the products yourself and pay.  Only whites were allowed to walk in.

I used to walk in and shop, but they would not take my money unless I went back to the window — they wanted me to accept being treated like a criminal. I was arrested several times for breaking that rule and used to get a lot of hidings from the police for doing that. They ended up not showing up when they were called.