document/613969 - HvA Kennisbank

Transcription

Sport Community and Development
in Mbekweni
“Only 30% of the total user
group
in
the
Mbekweni
Community Sport Centre
are women.”
Title:
Sport Community and Development in Mbekweni
Author:
Louise Oldeman
Address:
Krommelaan 4
Graduation project number:
1213-012, October 2014
Name of organization:
SCORE
Name of University:
Bachelor training:
Sport, Management & Business
Graduation teacher:
Eustuce Makumbe
Reader:
Remco Koopmeiners
Dedication
To my respected and beloved parents and brother for their support, generosity, love and
positive way of thinking, it is all highly appreciated.
October 2014.
iii
Hogeschool van Amsterdam
BACHELORTHESIS: SPORT COMMUNITY & DEVELOPMENT IN MBEKWENI
Abstract
Using sports as a vehicle for sustainable social development in rural poor areas, South Africa
has witnessed strong efforts being made by sport-for-development non-governmental
organizations (including the United Nations and SCORE) and government departments. The
country has various underdeveloped regions with large groups of underprivileged people,
serious financial problems, high crime rates, lack of race and gender equality, and few
opportunities for a substantial part of the population to participate in sports. In the past two
decades there has been a huge growth of the sport-for-development movement. This shows
that sports has become an instrument that facilitates development among children and
youngsters in historically disadvantaged regions in South Africa.
This thesis discusses the relationship between the willingness to participate in sports and the
social environmental conditions for women in Mbekweni. The specific research question of
this study is: what is the reason that only 30% of the total user group in the Mbekweni
Community Sport Centre (MCSC) are young women? This relationship is examined on the
basis of fieldwork conducted at the MCSC over a period of six months, amongst women and
girls participating in sports. Qualitative research was used to obtain the necessary
information, through in-depth interviews with the primary target group: young women. To put
the information in a broader perspective, staff members of SCORE and young men from the
community were interviewed too. The study has focused upon one particular community, the
township of Mbekweni, situated 60km north of Cape Town. The theoretical framework has
been used as an analytical basis to facilitate the interpretation of results obtained during my
six-month fieldwork period.
The central argument of this thesis is the wide variety of environmental conditions in South
Africa that have an impact on young women's willingness to participate in sport. After
finishing this research the conclusion is that these environmental conditions can be divided
into two categories: cultural and practical reasons. Cultural reasons include: 1) inequality
between sexes, 2) family obligations, 3) idealized image of women and 4) the lack of role
models. Practical reasons include: 1) lack of diversity in sports, 2) unstructured programme,
3) lack of communication and 4) MCSC's location.
iii
Table of Contents
Dedication ....................................................................................................................... iii
Abstract ........................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents..............................................................................................................iv
List of Figures................................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii
List of acronyms ............................................................................................................... vii
1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 8
1.1 Research problem ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
1.2 Research objectives ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
1.3 Research questions......................................................................................................................................................... 9
2 Research Methodology ................................................................................................ 11
2.2 The implementation of the research....................................................................................................................13
3 Theoretical framework ................................................................................................. 15
3.1 Community.......................................................................................................................................................................15
3.2 Community Development ..........................................................................................................................................16
3.3 Role of sport in Community Development .........................................................................................................17
3.4 Role of women in Community Development / society .................................................................................18
4 Background .................................................................................................................. 20
4.1 South Africa .....................................................................................................................................................................20
4.2 Apartheid ..........................................................................................................................................................................21
4.3 Nature of Townships ...................................................................................................................................................23
4.4 Safety in South Africa..................................................................................................................................................24
4.5 Poverty situation in South Africa .......................................................................................................................... 26
4.6 Cultural differences......................................................................................................................................................26
5 Internal and external analysis of MCSC ......................................................................... 28
5.1 SWOT analysis ................................................................................................................................................................ 28
5.2 Confrontation matrix ..................................................................................................................................................32
iv
6 Situation of Mbekweni ................................................................................................. 34
6.1 History of Mbekweni....................................................................................................................................................34
6.2 Culture background .....................................................................................................................................................35
6.3 Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC) ...................................................................................................40
6.4 Organisation SCORE ....................................................................................................................................................45
7 Results ......................................................................................................................... 46
8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 50
9 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 53
Acknowledgments and words of thanks .......................................................................... 55
11 Reference .................................................................................................................. 56
12 Appendix ................................................................................................................... 61
v
List of Figures
Figure 1: Overview of Unstructured, semi-structured and structured interviews
13
Figure 2: Map of South Africa
20
Figure 3: Total crime South Africa
24
Figure 4: Drug-related crime South Africa
24
Figure 5: Crime statistics for the West Cape of South Africa
25
Figure 6: Total crime Mbekweni
25
Figure 7: Race Drakenstein Municipality
34
Figure 8: Language Drakenstein Municipality
34
Figure 9: Won medals Olympic
37
Figure 10: Map of the location of MCSC
40
Figure 11: An external view of the MCSC from the parking lot
42
Figure 12: An internal view of the MCSC
42
Figure 13: Model how SCORE wants to work
44
List of Tables
Table 1: SWOT analysis of MCSC
33
Table 2: The After School programme
43
Table 3: Summarizes the responses of all interviewed
46
vii
List of acronyms
ANC
African National Congress
BIA
Brothers In Action
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization
HIV
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HTA
Hope Though Action
LO
Life Orientation
MCSC
Mbekweni Community Sports Centre
MDG
Millennium Development Goals
NGO
Non-Governmental Organisation
SCORE
Sport Coaches Outreach
WGILS
Women and Girls in Leadership Programme
vii
1 Introduction
Living in a township like Mbekweni can be hard for young women. Most of the time they do
not have the same chances and opportunities as the other sexes. Young women are not
encouraged to develop the way they want. For instance it is hard for them to participate in
sports, since they have family obligations and the society has certain expectations of women.
Another problem for young women is their safety: (sexual) abuse and violence take place at
home and the streets are very unsafe because of the high crime. Through sport young
women will be able to develop social values and self-confidence, but it is hard to encourage
young women to participate in sports.
This thesis focuses on one specific township, the Paarl township of Mbekweni. Almost 50%
all residents live below the South African poverty line. In this township, the development
organization SCORE built the Mbekweni Community Sports Centre (MCSC) in 2010.
SCORE’s goal is to use sports to empower individuals, both men and women. It also seeks
to build a stronger and healthier community. Through sports developmental work can start.
Sport is a worthwhile vehicle for development, while it creates conditions where social
networks, important relationships and norms of trust and mutuality can succeed (Makoelle,
2014).
SCORE observed that among the total user group of the MCSC the amount of participating
young women amounts to only 30%. Literature shows that men dominate in sports and that
women in townships consider access to sports as being irrelevant (Burnett, 2002).
This research focuses on the reason why young women participants in the Mbekweni
Community Sport Centre (MCSC) amount to only 30% of the total user group.
According to Hargreaves, very little has been written about women's sports in South Africa,
(Hargreaves, 1997). Almost 20 years later, this situation has not changed much. That is why
this thesis largely depends on data that were gathered during a five months stay in the Paarl
township of Mbekweni, from July until December 2012. In the present study qualitative
research has been used to collect and analyze data about people’s experiences. Through indepth interviews, an understanding of individuals group and/or insight in their situations was
obtained. The interviews took place either in the MCSC, in a public space or at the
interviewees' homes. Two SCORE staff members and sixteen young women from the
8
township Mbekweni were interviewed.
In chapter two the research methodology is discussed. In chapter three the theoretical
framework of this thesis is discussed. In chapter four general information is presented about
South Africa, its history, its culture and the issue of apartheid. Chapter five contains an
internal and external analysis of SCORE and the MCSC. In chapter six the situation for
young women living in Mbekweni is discussed. Chapter seven reviews the results of the
interviews. The chapters eight through eleven contain conclusions, recommendations,
acknowledgements and words of thanks and references.
1.1 Research problem
The United Nation (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are aimed at eradicating
local and global poverty (United Nations, 2014). The MDGs are important because they seek
to eradicate extreme poverty and hungry, achieve universal primary education, reduce child
mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure
environmental sustainability, global partnership for development and promote gender
equality and empower women. Particularly the latter is a very important goal for SCORE. The
UN wants to promote gender equality and empower women. Particularly in the
underdeveloped countries women enjoy fewer rights than men. One aspect of the unequal
role of women in society is their lack of participation in sports. This thesis looks into a specific
case, namely young women living in the township Mbekweni and their participation in sports.
1.2 Research objectives
The objective of this thesis is to understand the cultural reasons and motivations of young
women in Mbekweni regarding participation in sport activities in MCSC.
The main aims are:
1. To facilitate the use of the results of this study as a guideline in order to attract more
young women to participate in the MCSC, so that more young women will be able to
experience the power of sports.
2. To create more satisfaction and clarity for the users of the MCSC.
3. To make a contribution to the goal of SCORE to develop a stronger and healthier
community.
1.3 Research questions
The study focused on young women and the difference between sexes in terms of making
9
use of the MCSC. Results showed that males accounted for 70 percent of the MCSC visitors
and female visitors accounted for 30 percent. This has led to the following research question:
What is the reason that only 30% of the total user group in the Mbekweni Community Sports
Centre (MCSC) are young women?
The research topics that will help to answer this main question are:
-
What is the situation for young women in terms of participation in sports?
-
What are the main problems that girls face when they participate or consider
participating in sports?
-
What are the cultural aspects and factors that limit girls to participate in sports?
-
What are the MCSC's strengths and weaknesses?
-
What would the MCSC be able to do to improve young women's participation in
10
2 Research Methodology
In this chapter the study's set-up and methodology are discussed. First, some characteristics
of qualitative research are described.
Choice of the research design
Qualitative research is defined in various ways. In the study's context the following
characteristics are important:
From 'Nursing Research': Qualitative research is a holistic approach to investigate
phenomena, collecting and analyzing people's stories and experiences through a flexible
research set-up (Polit, 2003).
This qualitative study collected and analyzed people's experiences through interviews.
Emphasis was put on understanding of individuals, groups and/or situations. The set-up was
flexible and could be changed during the study (Baarda 2000). The research question
focused on topics related to the wide variety of environmental conditions in South Africa that
have an impact on young women's willingness to participate in sports. The used research
method allows for gathering and learning from inside information provided from the
interviewees' perspective (Boeie, 2005).
To answer the research question a semi-structured qualitative and descriptive empirical
research was set up. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 respondents to
complement and corroborate information obtained from literature by stories collected at
grass-roots level. Empirically defined by Baarda as an observation to determine
what happens in reality (Baarda, 2000).
According to Bilsen, considering the study's focus, directly related to culture, lived
experiences, behaviour, emotions, perceptions and the organization's functioning, qualitative
research appears to be a good method (Bilsen, 2002).
Research population
Within the research group of Mbekweni's inhabitants to the different groups involved in the
Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC) were monitored as much as possible. Of
Mbekweni's 55,000 inhabitants only a small part uses the MCSC facilities, but the exact
percentage is unknown. The study focused on young women and the difference between the
11
sexes in terms of making use of the MCSC. Results showed that males accounted for 70
percent of the MCSC visitors and female visitors accounted 30 percent. During analysis age,
gender and background were also taken into account. During selection of youngsters for
interviews a heterogeneous research population was strived for (Polit, 2003). The various
interviewed groups included two SCORE staff members and sixteen young women amongst
Mbekweni's inhabitants. It turned out that 50 percent of the youngster interviewees made use
of the MSCS.
Inclusion and exlusion criteria
If the residents of Mbekweni are between 10 and 25 years old and have knowledge of the
MCSC, they are included in this study. If the people are less than 10 years old or over 25
years old and residents with no knowledge of the MCSC, they are excluded.
In this research these age criteria have been chosen, because SCORE first wanted to study
the age of the women using the sports centre. These young women participated in sport
leagues (with the age of 10 to 16) or in the leadership programme of SCORE.
The reason for the exclusion of residents with no knowledge of the MCSC is that they cannot
answer questions related to the sports centre itself.
Researchlocation
The interviews took place in the MCSC, in a public space or at home. According to Baarda it
is characteristic of qualitative studies that they are carried out under ordinary, daily
circumstances, as far as possible. This provides a more familiar and less burdensome
conditions for the respondent (Baarda, 2000).
Data collection
Data collection took place through semi-structured interviews:
A semi-structured interview includes a list of topics and/or questions that needs to be
addressed. When these four criteria (content of the questions, formulation, the questions'
order and the answers given) depend on the interview situation, we speak of an open or
qualitative interview (Boeije, 2005). An important feature of these interviews is that neither
questions nor their order are fixed.
An interview guide was used which included conversation topics. Based on the information
obtained from the interviewees, a guideline is provided for follow-up questions to the next
12
interviewee. Interviews with residents follow in a certain direction. Important to keep in mind:
what information is already there (Polit, 2003).
Unstructured or
semi-structured or
structured
Free interview
semi-structured interview
Interview
I----------------------------------------------------------I----------------------------------------------------------I
Open interview
Qualitative interview
(Boeije)
The conversation topics are raised depending on the call flow. At the start of the
conversation the interviewer explained the purpose of the call.
The main reason for a semi-structured interview for this study was to obtain as much
available information as possible from of the interview. A lot of information about different
subjects can be gathered and whenever one wants to know more about a specific subject
one can focus on that particular topic. The interviewee will also feel more at ease, because
the conversation will have a natural flow.
Description measuring instruments and analysis methods
The open interview technique is a way to explore people's experiences. Respondents are
given the opportunity to tell their story (Maso, 1989). The investigator or interviewer
helps respondents to describe their experiences, without influencing the interview's
results. Collection and analysis of data continued, until sufficient data were gathered, so that
the data collection process could be stopped (Polit, 2003).
Analysis
Analysis included processing of survey data, through a process of sifting, summarizing and
establishing interrelations (Boeije, 2005). The interviews were recorded on a digital recorder
and subsequently written out in full. The interviews' topics and questions have been included
in the appendix and shall be used as a guide.
2.2 The implementation of the research
This chapter describes how the research was conducted.
13
Recruitment of respondents
The recruitment of respondents happened in the following way: in September, during afterschool sports activities in the MCSC, the researching fieldworker assessed whether the
participant could be approached, on the basis of pre-established, inclusion and exclusion
criteria. If this was the case, the fieldworker asked the youngster if he was willing to
cooperate with the investigation. After explaining the purpose of the investigation, the
investigator clearly stated that it was always possible to stop participating. Here some
variation appeared in the study population: of the two staff members interviewed, one is male
and one female. Of the surveyed youngsters sixteen are young women with varying ages.
Eight young women who had not made use of the MCSC, were interviewed at a public place
or at their homes.
Data collection
Eighteen interviews were conducted with random users and some non-users of the MCSC,
who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The interviews took place during October
and November 2012. The interviews were held either at the MCSC, in a public place, or at
the young women’s homes.
For the interviews a topic list (appendix 2) was used. This was adjusted after three interviews
because some topics addressed during the interviews did not appear on the topic list. Some
questions were modified, since they occasionally proved difficult for residents to understand
them properly.
Analysis
The interviews were thoroughly examined and coded. Coding the interviews proceeded as
follows. During the research process notes were taken in a diary. According to Eisenhardt
(1989), a journal should contain personal comments about what happened during the
investigation. This may relate to both observations during the interviews and analysis after
the interviews (Eisenhardt, 1989). In the diary topics were written down that mostly emerged
during the interview. Each interview was recorded with a digital voice recorder and then
transcribed literally. Occurring silences, hesitations and non-verbal expressions were taken
note of and written down. While transcribing the interviews, the researcher was able to relive
the interview and could get a better understanding of the meaning of the presented
responses. After analyzing all the interviews topics were assessed in terms of being relevant
to the research question and sub-questions.
14
3 Theoretical framework
In this chapter the theoretical framework for the topic of my thesis is described. Firstly, the
four relevant areas pertaining to my research were chosen: 1) community, 2) community
development, 3) the role of sports in community development and 4) the role of women in
community development. These four subjects are relevant for this thesis since this
information makes it easier to fully recognise the background and the theories of the topic of
research. It is good to understand in what kind of community the research has been done
and what the characteristics of this community, namely Mbekweni, are. What kind of
influence does a community development organization like SCORE have on the participation
of young women in sports. In order to solve the problems that Mbekweni is facing, the role
and influence of sport has to be understood. Also the role women can play in the
development of community like Mbekweni is important and needs research.
This information enabled answering the research question in a correct way. For each area
researchers, experts in their respective fields, were discussed and their work collected and
summarized. The results will be found below. At the end of each section the theoretical
framework is connected with the conducted fieldwork.
3.1 Community
The definition of a community is rather difficult to produce since it is not easy to incorporate
all the different forms of a community. The word community derives from the Latin word
communitas, a broad term for fellowship or organized society (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013).
One broad definition by Paul James (2012) incorporates the different forms of a community:
"a group or network of persons who are connected (objectively) to each other by relatively
durable social relations that extend beyond immediate genealogical ties, and who mutually
define that relationship (subjectively) as important to their social identity and social practice."
(James, Nadarajah, Haive & Stead, 2012).
In other words, a social unit of any size, sharing common values, is also called a community.
Researchers don't only study small communities, but also national and international
communities, and even virtual ones. For the participants' identity and their degree of
cohesion, belief systems, resources, preferences, needs and risks prove important.
15
With the breakdown of traditional communities and the development of modern industrial
society, a fundamental change took place in the nature of human interaction, which was
described by Tönnies (1955) as the change from 'Gemeinschaft' to 'Gesellschaft'. Community
is the translation for Gemeinschaft and is described as follows: ‘Gemeinschaft’ is used for a
society in which people interact with a relatively small number of other persons, whom they
know well (like family) and in many different roles. On the other hand, in a 'Gesellschaft'
society one has interactions with a much larger number of people, but these interactions are
limited to specific instrumental activities. Due to self-interest and calculation, these relations
are more impersonal and indirect and are more constructed because of economic and
political considerations. Tönnies (1955) stated that in the real world, any group appears to be
a mixture rather than pure 'Gemeinschaft' or 'Gesellschaft' (Tönnies, 1955).
The community in which this research was conducted is Mbekweni. The inhabitants of
Mbekweni were forced to live in this place during the apartheid regime. Mbekweni is a
society that is described as a ‘Gemeinschaft’. Here is a direct and personal connection
between people, shared beliefs and sympathies. It is like a village where everyone knows
each other and neighbours help each other out. The Western world is the opposite of this
society, namely a ‘Gesellschaft’, and is, therefore, more complex, less personal and
characterized by contractual relationships. It is less likely in such a society to ask the
neighbours for a favour.
With this theoretical explanation we can better understand the concept of community, which
also applies to the neighbourhood in Mbekweni. As there was a lot of violence during the
Apartheid regime, a lot of damage had been done in the South African society. In order to
rebuild communities it is important to first understand the definition and theoretical
background, and then look into community rebuilding or so called ‘community development’.
3.2 Community Development
"A process where community members come together to take collective action and generate
solutions to common problems." That is the definition of community development as defined
by the United Nations (2014). The aim of civic leaders and activists is to build stronger local
communities by involving professionals and citizens to improve various aspects of these
societies. It helps if large social groups work for a common agenda.
16
In South Africa many agencies are active in the field of community development, either
working with local and national authorities or independently working, for developing
communities and strengthening social interactions. SCORE is a sports-for-development nongovernmental organization that operates in 44 communities in South Africa. One of these
communities is Mbekweni. Within the community of Mbekweni many of the issues are: crime,
drugs, diseases, domestic violence, teenage pregnancies and other poverty-related issues.
To develop the community, SCORE has built the Mbekweni Community Sports Centre
(MCSC). This organization uses sports to empower individuals and also to build stronger,
healthier communities. In this manner they attempt to solve or mitigate these problems. At
this moment they want to influence the low participation of young women in the MCSC. Now
that community development has been defined, forms of community development in practice
can be discussed. One of the ways to approach community development is through sports.
3.3 Role of sport in Community Development
Sport is defined as a physical activity for pleasure in which an individual or team competes
against another one or others (Council of Europe, 2014). Sports can bring people together
for several reasons and it is therefore a very important tool to promote social values. Firstly, it
forces people to work together in teams, both within and without their social comfort zone.
Secondly, it is a way to teach people and especially young people various highly important
skills such as discipline, respect for others, a feeling for competition. Often it also creates
opportunities for education of youngsters. Lastly, sports can provide a platform for
communities to meet, interact and build valuable community connections. Nelson Mandela
used the power of sport as a tool to heal the scars of apartheid in South Africa. The Rugby
World Cup in 1995 is a great example of the increased national self-esteem in the South
African history (Kelso, 2013).
After this introduction, one can easily imagine that sports could be used as an ideal tool for
community development. As was described in the previous chapter, a community that lacks
unity, adhesion, and the necessary interrelationships to face difficulties, is more likely to have
persisting problems including crime and poverty-related issues.
While some people believe that sports have an intrinsic value, others say sports are a hobby
only available in developed countries. Many arguments on both sides are made, but one
cannot deny that sports can play a vital role to promote social values. Issues such as health,
involvement of youth, education, values and standards, integration, safety and anti-racism
can be addressed and successfully promoted through sports. Many professionals working in
the field of community development use sports and sports programmes to promote social
17
values, and the Sports Centre in Mbekweni stands as an example of this (Bussemaker,
2008).
In developing countries, other problems are often of more importance than promoting sports.
In Mbekweni the specific problems are crime, drugs, diseases, domestic violence, teenage
pregnancies and other poverty-related issues. Although a sound sports policy may help and
promote solutions to these existing problems, corruption and self-enrichment of the local
officials is often a big problem as well. Frequently, this issue is solved by a (foreign) agency
or organization coming in and supporting the construction and operation of sport centres by
themselves, in fully independence of authorities (Eekeren, 2006). As described, sports can
act as a great tool for helping to build and strengthen a community. Many organizations use,
therefore, sports in community development programmes and approaches. In Mbekweni one
of the organizations that helps solving the above-mentioned problems is SCORE.
After this discussion of the role of sports for community development, the next issue of
interest is the role of women in community development.
3.4 Role of women in Community Development / society
Rural women have less access to credit than men. This gender inequality also goes for
possibilities for receiving healthcare and education. The global economic crisis and climate
changes have worsened these situations. Each and every day almost one hundred million
people do not have enough food to feed themselves properly. This especially is the case for
women since in a lot of countries it is tradition that they eat last because they are obliged to
let men and children eat first. The inequality between sexes also counts for women in
Mbekweni. This problem is one of the aspects that SCORE wants to solve through sport
programme in the MCSC.
“Empowering rural women is crucial for ending hunger and poverty. By denying women rights
and opportunities, we deny their children and societies a better future. This is why the United
Nations recently launched a program to empower rural women and enhance food security,"
said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message for the International Day of Rural
Women (2012) (United Nations, 2014).
From the previous, it becomes clear that women play a vital role in the development of
communities and this is also the case in Mbekweni. In this thesis is looked into potential
reasons for low participation of young women in sports in South Africa, with Mbekweni as the
set example. In chapters 3.1 to 3.3 the value of community development and the role that
18
sports can play are discussed. With this additional background information about the roles of
women, one can understand the importance of the research question of this thesis.
19
4 Background
This chapter provides the necessary background for this thesis in order to understand the
research question. Six topics are important to understand this: information about South
Africa, its history, its culture, the issue of apartheid, and the safety and poverty situation of
the country. This knowledge will give a better understanding of the situation for young
women in terms of participation in sports.
4.1 South Africa
South Africa, officially known as the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the
southern tip of Africa. It is a medium –sized country, the 25th biggest country in the world,
with a total land area of 1,210,090 square kilometres and divided into nine different
provinces. In figure 2 the countries north of South Africa are shown, which are Namibia,
Botswana and Zimbabwe and the countries east are Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is
an enclave surrounded by South African territory (Central Intelligence Agency, 2014).
South Africa has a population of 52.98
million
people
and
is
very
heterogeneous (Statistics South Africa,
2013). Originally the native population
was a mix of different Bantu peoples,
before the Europeans started colonizing
the country. The current statistics show
that 79.4% of the population is Black
African, 9.2% White, 8.8% Coloured
(people with both Black and White
ancestors), and 2.6% Indian or Asian
(Statistics South Africa, 2010). The
country is mainly Christian, with only
very
small
Jewish
and
Muslim
minorities.
Figure 2: (CIA, 2012).
20
It is very interesting to see that South Africa has many official languages within its territory.
Only India and Bolivia have more official languages, and within the country many more
languages exist and are spoken. Some are on the verge of extinction, but in terms of sports,
it is interesting to see that children playing on the street or playing sport learn several
languages. For instance: their mother speaks Zulu with them at home, their father Xhosa,
their uncle Swazi, at school they learn Afrikaans and English and among friends they may
speak Sotho (Webb, 2002). This influences the way the children grow up.
South Africa has many different cultures, each with its own language. Nowadays eleven
official languages are spoken, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho,
Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu (South Africa, 2014). The majority of these
languages was suppressed under the Apartheid regime and marriage between races was
prohibited. Only since 1994 schools and sports teams were allowed to be interracial, but
interracial contact is still not on a par with other countries. Racism continues to be a major
issue. Being a society that consists of a heterogeneous population with different cultures the
shared consensus about moral in terms of having access to sports may differ from a society
with a more homogeneous population. Elements of the shared consensus on low
participation of women in sports will be discussed in chapter six.
4.2 Apartheid
To understand apartheid it is important to recognize the role of young women and the effect
of apartheid for them in terms of participation in sports. Apartheid refers to any system or
practice that segregates people according to race and/or caste. In the Republic of South
Africa a rigid policy of segregation of the non-white population was put in place, making it the
most well know example of apartheid until today (Van Dale, 2013). This political system was
introduced by a political party, The National Batch, which came into power under D.F. Malan
in 1948. Many rules for segregation were introduced. Under the name of apartheid, many
people of mixed race (coloured) were disenfranchised. For the purpose of implementing
these policies, apartheid recognized four races: Bantu (black African), Coloured (mixed
race), white, and Asian. The few black Africans in the former Cape Colony who had obtained
the right to vote at an earlier stage lost this right again.
During 40 years, the apartheid system had a huge impact on the population of South Africa.
The different races could not to live together as one community. So special schools were
founded for only black pupils and marriages between people of different races were
forbidden. In stores, white people were helped first and black people needed special internal
21
passports when going to a 'white area'. About 3.5 million blacks have been literally deported
from their residence to the ‘home countries’ that the government had provided for them. This
happened between 1960 and 1983 and it usually implied loss of opportunities and a life of
poverty without much chance for improvement. In addition, many families had to live
separated from each other: persons working in a white area could not take their family with
them, unless they had a working permit. Without the correct documents, Africans were
forbidden to live or work in towns (Plaut, 2006). The appendix shows an example of a protest
against these practices.
At the end of the 1980s the first cracks in the system started to come up. Pressure had been
building up to serious levels, both external –political, economic and cultural sanctions of
other countries had been put in place- and internal – internal violence had started to become
unmanageable-. In 1990 first talks were held between the free Nelson Mandela's ANC and
the government. This led to the first free elections in 1994 and to the first black president of
South Africa: Nelson Mandela. He wanted to reshape South Africa into a country where
everyone could live together and be equal. As a consequence of this new policy, the new
Constitution of South Africa was one of the most liberal worldwide of that period.
With apartheid having been abolished, sanctions and boycotts imposed by other countries
also ended. In 1995 South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup, and its multi racial team won
the championship. This was a powerful boost to post-apartheid society and the country's
return to the international sporting scene (African National Congress, 1971). Nelson Mandela
used sports as a tool to unite people and to redefine the country's international image.
Unfortunately not everything went well from here onwards. Although the country was free
and the new constitution treated all citizens equally, the country faced various serious
difficulties. After the resignation of Nelson Mandela in 1999 the ANC turned increasingly
against whites and particularly Afrikaners. ANC's policy to replace experienced and educated
whites with low-skilled blacks that lacked the necessary experience proved to be a disastrous
policy. The economy started to decline and many educated whites left the country to seek
refuge elsewhere.
In the 80s, crime rates have rocketed up, and HIV infection levels are among the highest
worldwide. South Africa has rapidly dropped its ranking on the list of most developed
countries and has become one of the most dangerous and most violent countries in the
world.
Nowadays one can still feel the impact of apartheid, as it is deeply ingrained in the South
African society. The aftermath of racism is still very much alive, and the current problems of
22
corruption, slow economy and racial divides are hard to solve. Apartheid also strongly affects
the sporting culture. A segregation was created between black and white populations actively
participating in sports. Apartheid-related poverty has led to high levels of destitution among
the affected population, which led to a high focus on primary necessities. As a result, there is
no time and energy for secondary needs such as sports, and comparatively even less so for
young women who have to take care of the family.
4.3 Nature of Townships
The target group of this research is living in a township, so it is important to understand in
what kind of conditions they have to handle and what impact this can have in terms of
participation in sports. Driving from the airport into Cape town, the first thing one spots are
the townships. A township is the land formally allocated to host the site of a town; the word
township legally refers to both residential and industrial sites. They were a creation of the
apartheid system and its predeceasing regimes of white rule. Townships often consist
of houses made of corrugated iron roofs and wooden walls. The biggest township in South
Africa, with a population of 860,000 people, is Soweto, situated next to Johannesburg. Other
major townships are Khayelitsha (near Cape Town), and Umlazi (next to Durban), both with a
population well over 300,000 people. At less than a one and a half hour drive from Cape
town, one will enter Mbekweni, the township of Paarl. The present survey was conducted in
this township and will be described in more detail in chapter six.
In these townships, the communities face many troubling issues, often including
overpopulation, lack of safety, unemployment, poor public health facilities, lack of drinking
water and lack of a sewage system in good working order (The World Bank Group, 1999).
Sewerage, water, and the electrical grid are three infrastructures within the township that are
in almost constant need of repair. The problems arising in these infrastructures are lack of
sanitation, poor accessibility, and poor availability of public resources. One can imagine the
hindrances for the population in terms of health and transportation. The government does not
help out the people that are not actually residents, so as a result the townships' inhabitants
are forced to make use of their own resources, causing more problems for the whole
community in the end. The many South African townships are run individually and
communally, instead of publicly -i.e. by the government or city administration-. Since there is
no benefit for the city administration to register the people living in the townships as official
citizens or residents, these problems continue to exist.
23
4.4 Safety in South Africa
The lack of safety in South Africa can affect the way women are living and that can impede
young women participate in sport. South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the
world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders. Still, over
the last 10 years the total amount of crimes has fallen by 17%. Most common crimes are
poverty-related, including residential burglary. Crimes that have increased are drug-related;
these increased with 70% over the past 10 years (Crimestatssa, 2014).
Total Crimes SA
Drug-related crime
3000000
250000
2500000
200000
2000000
150000
1500000
Drug-related crime
Total Crimes 100000
1000000
50000
500000
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Figure 3: (Crimestatssa, 2014).
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
0
0
In most places in South Africa the streets are very unsafe. The government encourages
people not to walk alone. This is particularly the case for townships and particularly for
women. At night it is not safe anywhere. Well-to-do people are advised not to wear flashy or
golden jewellery, not even during daytime. Besides, when white people wish to visit a
township, they should seek the company and protection of local inhabitants. This illustrates
that is not safe for women, not even for local women, to walk on the streets in a township.
This fact has a negative impact on girls and women in terms of their participation in sports. In
chapter five this problem will be discussed in further.
Another major issue is domestic violence. It is difficult to detect and in most cases victims will
not declare to the police. One of the causes is alcohol and drug abuse. In most cases victims
of domestic violence are women. This may result in women not daring to go outdoors or do
any activity in their community, like sports.
24
Figure 5 shows crime statistics for the West Cape of South Africa. The crime rates are sorted
into 5 blocks. In the green area the lowest presentation of crime is found and the red area
represents the precincts that show the highest crime rates. Therefore the precinct's colours,
going from green through orange to red, indicate how high the crime rates are compared to
the other areas. The crime statistics in the West Cape show big differences, but this does not
Total Crimes Mbekweni
2500
affect
the
research
question.
However, the figure shows that the
district of the West Cape with in
2000
Mbekweni has a red colour, meaning
1500
it faces a lot of violence.
Total Crimes
Mbekweni
1000
The total crime rate within Mbekweni
has fallen by 30% over the last 9
0
years (figure 6) (Crimestatssa, 2014).
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
500
More information about Mbekweni
can be found in chapter six.
25
4.5 Poverty situation in South Africa
Sport heavily affects women and their changes to escape from poverty. Therefore this is an
important aspect of this study. Poverty has many different definitions. According to the Dutch
Central Bureau for Statistics, the main indicator of poverty is the income that a household
can spend (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2014). When this definition is used, then it is
clear that this concept of poverty differs from country to country. South Africa does not have
an official poverty. According to government statistics (Crawford, 2012), South Africa is one
of the most unequal countries in the world. White inhabitants earn six times more money
than black people. Almost 25% of the people between the age of 15 and 64 year is
unemployed and two-thirds of the youth lives in poor households. Since Mbekweni is a
township with mainly black people poverty rates are in the low ranges of the average
statistics of South Africa as described above.
Beside serious poverty situations South Africa faces public health issues. Around 5.5 million
people are infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and a million people are
waiting for a treatment. Lots of problems, including the heritage of the apartheid, the lack of
political willingness and the enormous inequalities, slow down the efforts to provide therapy.
And since there is a high unemployment rate, people often cannot afford the expansive
treatments that are needed. Besides, people are not well fed and that also affects their health
(Poverty, 2013).
More specific information and statistics about the Mbekweni poverty situation and health
issues will be presented in chapter six.
4.6 Cultural differences
The cultural differences between the Dutch and the Xhosa people are generally huge. Dutch
people show different patterns in culture, norms and values and basic assumptions. The
models of the American anthropologists Edward and Mildred Hall provide some basics for
successfully achieving a more effective intercultural type of communication. The
anthropologist Florence Kluckhohn and Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede elaborate on these
basic assumptions.
The models of Hall, Kluckhohn and Hofstede can help us to understand the differences
between the main cultures in the country (Nunez, Nunez Mahdi & Popma, 2007). Roughly
the country could be divided into 80% black people – different ethnics groups- and 20% white
26
people. Although there are substantial differences between the various ethnic groups. like
the Zulu and Xhosa for instance, the white ruling class all treated them as one. In terms of
uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation there are major differences between the two
main groups in South Africa.
In this context it is interesting to note that Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC) was
designed and built by white people. The builders have to be aware of the cultural needs of a
community regarding the MCSC. This aspect can influence the participation of young women
in the MCSC. This will be further discussed in chapter five.
27
5 Internal and external analysis of MCSC
5.1 SWOT analysis
The aim of the SWOT analysis is to identify
internal
strengths
and
weaknesses
of
an
organization, as well as external opportunities and
threats in the environment. This is a tool that can
be used during the determination of strategies.
Having identiﬁed these factors, strategies can be
developed which may build on strengths, eliminate
weaknesses, exploit opportunities and counter
threats.
The SWOT analysis answers the following questions:
Where do we stand?
What can we improve?
On which strengths can we build?
What market opportunities can we exploit?
Which threats can we expect?
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are put together in a confrontation matrix
(on page 33).
This SWOT analysis looks into the Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC) entre and
aspects of women's participation in the MCSC are investigated.
5.1.1 Strengths
Strength 1: Free of charge
The mission of SCORE is: “to sports to provide children and youth with valuable skills and
opportunities that they need to succeed in life and contribute to their communities”. SCORE
wants everyone in the community to be able to participate in the MCSC. Therefore no single
child will have to pay to enter the MCSC. This makes the sports centre accessible for all
children in the entire community. This is, therefore, a strength of both SCORE and MCSC.
Every kid is able to learn valuable skills and receive opportunities that they need to succeed
in life and contribute to their communities.
28
Strength 2: Program of SCORE
The vision of SCORE is to change lives and build stronger communities through sports. The
programme in the centre is totally in line with their vision. They want to provide a diverse
range of sports. This is a strength of the MSCS, because through this methodology they will
attract a lot of boys and girls from different backgrounds.
Another good element in the SCORE's programme SCORE is the ‘Life and Leadership Skills
Training’. Through this programme the community will be able to continue the work initiated
earlier by SCORE. The youngsters that participate in this programme will master skills and
receive opportunities that they need to succeed in life and contribute to their communities.
Strength 3: Relationship with schools
The MCSC staff members closely co-operate with the schools in Mbekweni. This is feasible
since they work with staff that grew up in the village. Because of this good relation with
schoolteachers, the latter tend to talk positively about the centre, and motivate the children to
play sports in MCSC and exchanging information (for instance when the leagues are about to
start) also proves easier.
5.1.2 Weaknesses
Weakness 1: Location on the outskirt
MCSC is situated in the township Mbekweni, a community with a high crime rate, as
described in chapter six. The fact that the building is not located in the middle of the
township, but on the outskirts, is unfortunate as this means that most people have to walk a
long distance to get there. For some of these children it is therefore a challenge to go to the
centre. When it is dark it is not safe for women to walk alone, particularly during winter. So
during that period it becomes a bigger challenge for them to go to the MCSC. This can affect
women's participation in sports provided by the MSCS. The centre's location is, therefore, a
weakness.
Weakness 2: Build by ‘white’ people
Numerous cultural differences exist between whites and blacks in South Africa, as described
in more detail in chapter four. The aspects that emerge in the MCSC are linked to people's
considerations on what a community would need. For instance, a place like a canteen where
a parent can drink something while watching its child playing is an example of something you
will never encounter in a black community, as parents do not take their children to a sports
29
centre; they always go by themselves.
Another thing that could have been built differently is the separation of the futsal pitch, e.g.
by netting or something similar to divide the field in two. SCORE seeks to have the
availability to play several sports codes at the same time on the same field. Currently this
tends to create very hectic conditions due to the lack of separation between pitches. So
some parts of the construction of the MCSC form a weakness.
Weakness 3: Lack of communication in organization SCORE
Unfortunately, a culture of unreliable information and distrust has arisen between the head
office and the MCSC staff members. This has a negative impact on the centre's youth
leaders. This situation has arisen due to SCORE’s targets that need to be achieved for its
funding agency, the UK charity Hope Through Action (HTA). HTA has set requirements and
SCORE must achieve them to continue receiving money. So for example, when Phillip Green
from HTA is planning to visit the centre, the head office passes orders to staff members to
organize as many sports activities as possible for that event. In practice, it occurs that
children have to be collected from the street to fill up the centre. In this way it is pretended
that a lot of activity is being undertaken in MCSC. This one instance created a lot of
confusion for staff members and the youngsters in the centre. Different sport codes and
various activities should be provided for at all times, not only when the HTA happens to be
present. Confusion starts with the organization's upper-ranks of the organization, the head
office, they pass unreliable information up to the UK charity. So here is where the culture of
unreliable information and distrust seems to have its origin, making it more likely for staff
members to also pass on unreliable information to SCORE's head office. For instance, when
MCSC staff members are aware that a representative from the head office will be visiting the
centre, they will make sure there will be some activity-taking place in the centre. But the point
is, that under ordinary circumstances the centre's schedule fails to provide activities during all
the available hours. This attitude of pretending and lack of effective co-operation forms a
weakness for the MCSC.
Weakness 4: Unstructured Program
SCORE seeks to provide a variety of sports. According to HTA all the following sport codes
are given: football, netball, cricket, kick boxing, handball, volleyball, karate & self-defence
and creative programmes such as dance, singing and theatre.1 This is true, but the offered
sports programmes lack consistently. For instance, while the programme mentions girlsleague netball for girls U12, U14, U16, in reality this has never been realized during my stay.
With an unstructured programme children do not know what sport activities actually will be
30
provided for in the MCSC. This creates a lack of clarity and as a consequence children's
attendance rates may decline.
It is a positive thing that the MCSC seeks to offer many different sports, so that people can
choose the sport they like. But then it has to be well organized: sticking to the same day,
same hours, same place and with ongoing activities in every week.
Weakness 5: Childcare
A weakness of the MCSC is that they do not offer anything for (young) mothers in
combination with their child or provide for some sort of childcare. If there was a possibility for
(young) mothers to practice a sport while someone looks after their children that would be a
reassuring thought. This is still lacking in the centre.
Weakness 6: Not a consistent female coach
A role model female coach would be a qualified person who can inspire girls. In the
Mbekweni sports centre such a role model is still lacking.
So far, professional staff's
involvement in actively in scouting women that could work as fellow employees is still
insufficient.
5.1.3 Opportunities
Opportunity 1: Large pool of potential participants
One of the opportunities for MCSC is the size of the group of children in the area. There are
still many children out there who have either never heard of the centre or who are not regular
visitors yet, so there is a large pool of potential participants.
Opportunity 2: Better use of the current facility
Another opportunity is the sports facility itself, which can be used more efficiently and more
frequently. During the day there are often long intervals of time that children want to play or
can be engaged, but that fields remain empty.
Opportunity 3: Use of neighbouring land
Another opportunity is the large empty space behind the sports centre. This could potentially
be used for future expansion of the centre, so that even more children will potentially be
engaged.
31
5.1.4 Threats
Threat 1: Corruption
One of the threats for the sports centre is corruption. This is a common phenomenon in
South Africa, and, therefore, hard to deal with.
Threat 2: Local government
An other potential threat is formed by the local authorities they can, for whatever reason,
decide to allocate the land to build an other facility or build more houses on this specific spot.
Threat 3: Gangsters
The last threat to the MCSC is the large group of gangsters, present in Mbekweni. Drugs are
easy to get and one can quickly get involved in the drug scene. This poses a threat to the
centre as it natively affects the youngsters' willingness to go to he MCSC.
5.2 Confrontation matrix
Using a confrontation matrix, potential strategies can be assessed in terms of their potential
to increase the participation of women in the MCSC. By putting the internal and external
analysis aside each other, combinations can be made between strengths and weaknesses
as well as opportunities and threats.
When strengths are combined with opportunities this will give rise to a combination with the
most benefits. Weaknesses in combination with opportunities offer room for improvement,
while strengths with threats need to be defended and weaknesses in combination with
threats should be avoided.
32
SWOT analysis of Mbekweni Community Sport Centre
Strengths
Weaknesses
1. Location on the outskirt
2. Build trough ‘white’ people
1. Free of charge
3. Lack
2. Program of SCORE
3. Relationship with schools
4. Working with local staff
of
communication
in
organization SCORE
4. Unstructured Program
5. Child care
6. Not a consequent female coach
Opportunities
Threats
1. Large pool of potential participants
1. Corruption
2. Better use of the current facility
2. Local government
3. Use of neighbouring land
3.
Gangsters
Table 1: SWOT analysis of MCSC
33
6 Situation of Mbekweni
In this chapter the history of Mbekweni and Mbekweni will be described. Subsequently,
information will be provided on their cultural background, the usual transport in Mbekweni
and the location of Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC).
6.1 History of Mbekweni
The township Mbekweni is located in between Paarl and Wellington, two towns in the region
of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is part of the Drakenstein Municipality,
located in the Cape Wine lands District Municipality. Drakenstein Municipality as a whole has
a population of slightly more than 250, 000 (2011 census). Of these people, 62.5% describe
themselves as “Coloured”, 22.7% as “Black African”, and 13.5% as “White”. The first
language of 75% of the population is Afrikaans, while only 16.7% speaks Xhosa, one of the
official languages of South Africa. Around 5% of the residents speak English (2011 Census).
Drakenstein Municipality
Coloured
Black African
White
Other
Indian or Asian
Figure 7: (2011 Census).
Language
Afrikaans
isiXhosa
English
Other
Sesotho
Sign language
Setswana
isiZulu
isiNdebele
Sepedi
Xitsonga
Tshivenda
SiSwati
The majority of the people in Mbekweni are black and they speak Xhosa. This township is
surrounded by a rich agricultural area, by the fertile soil for the wine lands. Since the 17th
century the biggest source of livelihood in the district has been farming. Specifically the wine
and grape industry are important for this region. This still is the main source of informal job
creation in the Paarl/Wellington area, since 80% of country's vines are located in the
Wellington region (Drakenstein Municipality, 2011). Mbekweni is part of this agricultural,
economic and demographic district.
34
A short report of Mbekweni's history will be presented below, with more information about the
township and the people living in it.
Brief history of Mbekweni
In Xhosa, the language of the township, Mbekweni literally means „a place of respect‟. Its
history traces back to the apartheid period and is similar to that of many other townships in
the Western Cape: in search for jobs black workmen moved from the Eastern Cape to towns
and cities in the Western Cape.
Originally mostly single black men moved to Mbekweni. Not many efforts were, therefore,
made to build houses for families (Crawford, 1989: 40). In one house, more than ten men
were usually lodging together. There is limited historical literature on Mbekweni, although it is
known that there was a significant rebellion in the 1960s in the Mbekweni/Paarl region. Tom
Lodge (1983) wrote a book about its history: 'Black Politics in South Africa since 1945'.
Mbekweni today
Mbekweni today has a growing population of 24,000, although the actual population is
estimated to be 50,000, with 40% under the age of 15. Almost half of all residents live below
the South African poverty level. Healthcare is a serious matter, since Tuberculosis increased
by 17% from 2001 to 2002 and 15% of the inhabitants have HIV/AIDS. The incidence of
epilepsy is four times the USA rate. Mbekweni also faces other issues: there is a high
percentage of teenage pregnancies and a lot of children are abused and abandoned. Like
many other townships, this community shows a growing incidence of alcohol and drug
addiction. More than 1 in 5 have HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, from the year 2000 to 2001 here
was an alarming increase of more than 50% in HIV/AIDS amongst pregnant women. The
average life expectancy is only 54 years. In 2006 there were 20 murders (with the murder
rate almost 50 times higher than the UK rate, 57 reported rapes and 582 serious assaults
(Hope through action, 2014) in Mbekweni.
6.2 Culture background
Above, some general background information was provided about Mbekweni; this section
focuses on cultural aspects and the factors that limit girls in the participating in sports. This
chapter will discuss the problems for young women who cannot participate in the Mbekweni
Community Sports Centre (MCSC). First, the food and eating habits in Mbekweni will be
discussed as this aspect has more influence then was initially expected. Next, more can be
read about the function of role models and the role models in South Africa. Later on the
35
macho culture will be discussed and in which way it influences the behaviour of kids in
Mbekweni. Subsequently, the family obligations of the South African household are
discussed. Then expectations for young women in Mbekweni will be focused upon. And last
but not least, more information about the effects of drugs will be provided. This is a very
important aspect for gaining insight in its impact, as it influences a lot of aspects of society.
All these problems will be included in the SWOT analysis.
6.2.1 Food and eating habits
Food and eating habits in Mbekweni result in weight problems. Interviews have shown that
there is a large number of overweight people, mostly women and girls, in Mbekweni. Back in
the old days, people used to have a high esteem for an overweight person, because it was a
sign of prosperity. It was thought that thin people could not afford to buy food, so that is why
they were unhappy. For instance Zizipho Zee Mangaliso mentioned the following: “I am
convinced that if you are fat, you are happier than when you are thin”. Nowadays, studies
show what obesity is doing to a person. Research shows the consequences of being fat. It is
not only dangerous for the body, but mental health is affected too (Gezondheidsnet, 2014).
Overweight is a problem for the sports centre as well. Obese kids generally have less fun in
sports. Because they are, most of the time, slower and get tired earlier than 'fitter or thinner'
children. There is a correlation between the willingness to participate in MCSC and the level
of overweight for a potential participant.
6.2.2 Role model
The view of society on the role of women is related to culture. A society with many traditional
habits can prohibit women to think about including sports in their life. The only way out is a
change of culture. This is a long and slow process, but it is not impossible. South Africa
shows that it is taking steps to promote gender equality, and participation of women in sports
is becoming more important. As pointed out above, SCORE is one of the organizations that
are dealing with this.
Essential for changing certain beliefs and views is the existence of role models. Role models
are very important to show people what they can do, what they can achieve and it can inspire
people. Therefore, female role models are essential for the development of women's
participation in sports. It is interesting to look into the data on the current situation in South
Africa. Below those figures will be compared to data from other countries.
36
One of the possibilities for identifying role models is looking at the highest level of
competition in the world: the Olympic Games. Figure 9 shows data on medals won by South
African athletes versus Dutch athletes over the last 10 years. South Africa has won 13
medals, of which three were won by women and ten by men (Medaillespiegel, 2013).
The Dutch women won 58% of the medals and
South African women won 23% of the medals
(Gaitskell, 2000). South Africa's women athletes
were less successful during the Olympics than
Dutch female athletes. Assuming that winning a
medal provides a role model, and that each role
model leads to a higher percentage of women
participating in sports, then South Africa has
60
Won medals Olympics
40
Women
20
Men
0
2004-2014
SA
2004-2014
NED
potential for growth in comparison to The Netherlands. A female role model in MCSC is an
important aspect to attract young women to participate in MCSC. From the interviews it has
become apparent that at this moment MCSC lacks a female role model.
6.2.3 Macho culture
Different meanings can be given to the definition macho culture: varying from the rape
culture and the lack of shame that men have, to relatively minor issues one could notice in
the MCSC and the flawed law system.
Domestic violence is normal practice in the South African macho culture, both in the white
and in the black part of the population. According to the South African Institute of Race
Relations (SAIRR), approximately 2,400 women are killed every year and about 200,000
women become victims of abuse, rape and sexual assault (South African Institute of Race
Relations, 2014). A study by the medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC) shows that
40% of the men confessed to have beaten a woman and approximately 25% of the men said
that they had raped a woman.1 Risk factors associated with the reported abuse include lower
education levels, the use of alcohol and drugs and the use of violence to resolve conflicts.
The study showed that women in dating relationships are more at risk of being abused
compared to married women.
A case of domestic violence and murder of a South-African woman was recently in the news
headlines: "South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is facing a murder
charge after his girlfriend was shot and killed at his Pretoria home." – (BBC News, 2013)
37
The interviews have revealed that some girls do not feel free to participate in MCSC. Zizhle
Mtyando is occasionally participates in the sports activities in the MCSC said, that she felt
dominated by the boys in the MCSC and on the field. “I have experienced a lot of time that
boys said to me that I had to leave the field, because they wanted to play.” This ensures that
girls are less likely return to the MCSC. So the macho culture can influence the participation
of young women in MCSC.
6.2.4 Family obligations
Back in the old days the Xhosa-speaking people lived in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape
where men traditionally fulfilled the roles of warriors, hunters and stockmen. The women
looked after the land, the family and the house and grew crops.
Although most Xhosa-speaking people are now an integrated part of the South African
society and mostly have adopted the western culture, the mind-set during that time was: men
work outside the house and women take care of the household. This has not changed over
the years.
The women clean the house, cook the meals and take care of the children. When a mother is
not present, if she has passed away, is too old or works outside the house, then the family
expects the oldest daughter to take on all these tasks. This means for many girls that when
they come home from school, they often have to cook and do other duties in the house.
Because of poverty the family expects the girls to earn money or gather food as well.
With all these family obligations it is difficult for young women to participate in sports.
Although it is difficult for a sports centre to play an active role to solve this problem, it could
acknowledge that this problem exists and offer at least some mental support. It is important
to realize the challenges these young women have to face.
6.2.5 Expectation
The South African society has certain expectations of women, which tend to be still very
stereotypical. Throughout history you can see a lot of inequality. The first time that women
were allowed to participate in the modern Olympic Summer Games was in 1900. That was
four years later then the summer games had started. The first gold medal ever won by a
black lady was in London in 1948 when the American Alice Coachman won the high jump.
She had, however, been denied access to regular training facilities. That is why she trained
by running on dirt roads and created her own hurdles to practice jumping. Another aspect
she had to deal with was that her parents did not support her interest in athletics either
(Espiritu, 2014).
38
The first gold medal for a South African (white) woman was won by Penny Heyns in 1996.
She has turned out to be the only woman in Olympic history that has won the gold medal in
the 100m and 200m swimming (breaststroke) (Brad, 2012). Nowadays a lot of black women
still do not think that they can play sports. Furthermore, no one stimulates them to practice a
sport.
In South Africa also politics show many differences in their attitude towards sexes and races.
As for the right to vote, while in 1881 some women in Scotland achieved the right to vote in
local elections, in South Africa White women only achieved this right 49 years later. And only
in 1984, coloured people and Indians were allowed to vote too. But only as late as 1994
black women received full suffrage in South Africa.
These examples give an ideal about girls who participated in something. For instance
Cwenga Metu takes part in activities organized by SCORE. She said the following: “A friend
of mine asked me to join her to the Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC). My first
reaction was, why? I cannot play any sport, but I tried. My family did not expect that I would
continue going to the MCSC, but I have proved the opposite. I have participated in sports
already for two years now.”
6.2.6 Drugs
The effect of drugs is a very important aspect for gaining insight in its impact, as it influences
a lot of aspects of society. It is difficult to obtain data about drug-related crime rates. A police
report (South African Police Service Report, 2010) shows that between April 2009 and March
2010 107 drug-related crimes occurred in Mbekweni. And during the six years before that,
drug-related crimes had escalated by 270%” (UK Methodist Church, 2010).
It is very easy to get drugs on the streets of Mbekweni, as was affirmed by the study. On the
site of SCORE you can find testimonials about the effect the sports centre has on drug use
by youngsters. For instance Sizwe Jack takes part in activities organized by SCORE. He
mentioned the following: "I feel great that the Mbekweni Community Sport Centre was built
her in Mbekweni because some of the youth that used to do drugs do not using them
regularly anymore. More people now practice sports and when people play sports they are
safe, they don't do drugs…" Another young leader, Nozuko Malunda, said: "I feel very happy
and excited about the sports centre because it has brought many changes to our community.
Young people come to the centre every day to play sports and have fun and it has also kept
them away from doing wrong things, such as smoking drugs and drinking alcohol."(SCORE,
2013)
39
These comments show, just as the statistics do, that drugs and drug-related crimes are a
major problem for young women to participate in MCSC. Because they can get drugs that
easily, it becomes difficult for them to resist temptation.
6.3 Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC)
In 2010 the Chairman of the England Football League, Lord Mawhinney, officially opened the
Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC), together with the Mayor of the Municipality.
This centre was built in the Phola park section of the city. The construction of this multimillion rand indoor facility was made possible by donations from the NGO Hope Trough
Action and SCORE.
MCSC is very important for the township's inhabitants since it not only provides various
sports-for-development programmes, but also increases leadership and life skills and, as a
result, it also helps to decrease the crime rate.
The MCSC shown from above in figure 10:
the yellow arrow indicates the sports
centre's
location.
(Physical
Address:
Mbekweni Community Sports Centre 557
Funda
Street
Mbekweni
Paarl).
The
MCSC is not located in the middle of the
township, but on the outskirts. This is
unfortunate because this means that most
people have to walk a long distance.
For instance, youngsters living in block D
or F (areas at the upper left and right in
figure 10) have to walk for 30 to 40
minutes. Interviews showed that it is a
challenge for some of these young women
to come to the MCSC. When it is dark it is
not safe for women to walk alone,
particularly during the winter. So at that
time it becomes a bigger challenge for them
Figure 10: Map of the location of MCSC(Google Earth, 2013)
to come to the MCSC. This affect 25% of the interviewee young women's to participate in
sports at MCSC.
40
6.3.1 Funding
Because of all the problems in Mbekweni and the very limited number of sporting facilities,
the idea of building the Mbekweni Community Sport Centre was very special. Different
stakeholders found the goals of the MCSC very important; they clubbed together and
invested in the centre. These stakeholders understood that social capital stands for networks
based on social and group norms. That enables people to trust and cooperate with each
other. One of the investors was HTA, Hope Through Action. This charity, registered in both
South Africa and the UK, supports young people in townships to use sports to develop life
skills. Philip Green, founder of HTA commented at an anniversary: “The sports centre in
Mbekweni has been a great success and has made a significant impact in the community
since its opening in 2010. We have strong local partners, particularly SCORE, who are
responsible for delivering the programmes in Mbekweni…"
6.3.2 Structure and programmes of MCSC now
Currently there are three staff members, one receptionist and one cleaner working at the
MCSC. Once a week an employee of the head office comes to the Centre. She assesses the
staff's work and most often a meeting is held. Staff working at the centre are Mzimkhulu
Godlo, Songelwa Tshawekazi and Tembisa Tshuka.
Mzimkhulu called “Ta Boo” or “Tilili” witch means 'further’; in Sotho. He is 36 years old and he
works in the sports centre since its opening day. Born and raised in Mbekweni, he is known
by everybody and loved by many. At the MCSC he is a Life Orientation (LO)1 teacher, sport
facilitator, coach for the boys and girls soccer team and organizer for the Social League.
The other staff member named Songelwa works four days a week at the Centre. Her
nickname is 'Scuku' which means 'small'. She is 28 years old, just married and started
working at the MCSC in 2012. She was born in Khayelitsha, which is the biggest township of
Cape town. Her task are teaching LO classes, coaching girls teams in netball and volleyball
and supervising WGIRLS.
The third staff member Tembisa has been working for four months, from September till
December, at the MCSC in 2012. Everybody calls her Thembi” which means 'hope'. She is
26 years old and grew up in Guguletu, a township close to Cape town. She is responsible for
1
LO are lessons with topics like peer pressure, teenage pregnancy, rape and domestic
violence. Other subjects they cover are career, goal setting, job & admission and decisionmaking. Sometimes the LO classes are replaced by gymnastic lessons.
41
the girls’ volleyball team and assists Mzimkhulu with the soccer teams for girls. She also
teaches LO classes at the different schools.
The receptionist Thandeka Njozela has already been working a few years for SCORE. At the
moment she is MCSC's contact person and keeps an eye on everything that happens inside
and outside the centre.
Henrietta Settler is the programme manager of SCORE and works most of the time at the
head office in Cape Town. Since Henrietta said she does not have confidence in the
activities of MCSC, she every now and then visits to check their programmes and to organize
staff meetings about their progress and achievements.
The interviews with the staff members showed that the sudden unannounced visits of
Henrietta feel like an inspection. For instance one of the staff members Mzimkhulu said that
because of the lack of trust and communication he does not feel motivated to take initiative in
the sport field, lead more sport activities or invent new events to increase the participation of
women in MCSC
Above figure 11&12: An external view of the MCSC from the parking lot and an internal view of the MCSC
In front of the Sports Centre there is a free parking lot, which can be used as a netball course
as well. On the left of the centre there are thee outdoor cricket nets and on the backside
there is an open flat space, where another sports field can be built in the future.
In the centre itself is a 40 m x 20 m floodlit pitch with a tribune, meant for 380 people. In
Mbekweni it sometimes happens that they squeeze in 500(!) people. In the back there is a
kitchen/food facility and dressing rooms with showers for women and men. There is also a
small equipment room, where football, pawns, rugby, netball and cricket materials are stored.
When the research started, SCORE focused on stimulating more young women to participate
in the MCSC. SCORE wanted to bring more structure to the centre and divided the field's
availability between boys and girls. There are only women allowed on the sports field during
after-school sports programmes on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday
42
only boys are allowed on the MCSC sports field. And on Friday everyone is allowed to play
on the field, this day is “SCORE For All” –day. Taking the macho culture and expectation
those women cannot play any sport into account; they attempt to solve this problem. The
reason for the “structured” schedule was to give young women a chance to play sports in the
MCSC, without being bullied off by guys who wanted to be there too. With these
measurements they hoped that more young women could participate more easily in sports.
However, the frequency of structuring the program has not yet succeeded in December
2012. 60% of the interviewee still experienced the lack of structure in MCSC, so this is a
factor that SCORE can improve.
During the day the staff members of SCORE work at local schools and when school is out,
they operate in the sports centre. At six different primary and secondary schools they give
Life Orientation (LO) classes. LO are lessons with topics like peer pressure, teenage
pregnancy, rape and domestic violence. Other subjects they cover are career, goal setting,
job & admission and decision-making. Sometimes the LO classes are replaced by gymnastic
lessons.
When school is out, the afterschool programme will start (the schedule is shown in table 1)
and the leadership programme will be given. The girls call themselves ‘WGILS’ which stands
for ‘Women and Girls in Leadership Programme’ and the boys are the ‘BIA', meaning
‘Brothers In Action’.
Table 2: The After School programme
15:00-16:00
GIRLS block GIRLS block
BOYS block
BOYS block
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
- BIA
- Netball
- Rugby clinic
- Soccer
- WGILS
- Soccer
- Soccer
- Soccer
- Volleyball
- Soccer leak
- Karate
- Handball
Friday
“SCORE For All”
- Karate
16:00-17:00
- Soccer
“SCORE For All”
- Netball
- Handball
There are some activities like dancing and drama lessons, which are not shown at this After
School programme. The Saturday kick box sessions at the end of my stay are not mentioned
either.
43
The programme showed above is varied, but it did not work out well: during the months I
worked there, netball was never been played and the league of girls sports never started. In
terms of communication, there often was miscommunication between the head office and the
centre's staff. Sometimes there also appeared to be a lack of trust between the employees.
This uncertainty also affected the participation of young women in MCSC. As a result of the
bad communication, the offer of various sports is limited. This lack of diversity in sport has
consequents on the amount the participation of young women in MCSC.
This model shows how SCORE
wants to work.
Figure 13: (Hope Trough Action, 2012)
SCORE uses this model in every community where they operate. After some coaching they
want the community to be able to continue with this model without any help of SCORE. By
training local sport leaders who implement sport activities, they seek to develop people's
skills so that they will be able to organize future events.
In MCSC they use a different approach. There should always be a staff member present.
The training method is the same as in the other community: training of local youth to
volunteer, to be peer leaders and, ultimately, to be coaches.2
2
The information about SCORE’s programmes and implementation was obtained from
SCORE’s website (www.score.org.za). My six-month fieldwork period at the MCSC also
allowed me to gain a better understanding on how these programmes are implemented and
what the effects are.
44
The research shows that, in the MCSC, there is a lack in diversity of sports, unstructured
programmes are given and the lack of communication between the head office and staff
members constitutes a major problem in the participation of young women in the MCSC.
6.4 Organisation SCORE
SCORE is a Sport and Development organization based in South Africa. Its goal is to use
sport to empower individuals and also to build stronger, healthier communities (SCORE,
2012). SCORE's vision is “to change lives and build stronger communities through sports”.
Part of its mission is providing children and youths with valuable skills and opportunities they
need to succeed in life by doing sports. One of the main goals of the organisation is to train
community sports leaders. That is achieved by providing sports administration and coaching
courses. To make it easier to reinforce community structures and to meet broader community
development requirements, these courses include life skills and leadership components that
go beyond the sports field. By doing so they also seek to contribute to their communities.
SCORE has projects in 44 communities in 7 provinces in South Africa. One of the provinces
is Western Cape, where in Mbekweni the Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC) was
built. It is unique that in a township SCORE is able to operate in an indoor centre that is fully
to their disposal. Usually SCORE can only run its programme from a community centre or
school sport fields.
In the MCSC all programmes are therefore run under the auspices of SCORE. That means
that there is always a guarantee of time and usage of the Centre for SCORE's purposes. The
appendix shows the history of SCORE in more detail.
45
7 Results
This chapter includes a summary of all the results obtained from the interviews. The analysis
of the results points at several causes for the fact that only 30% of the total user group in the
Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC) is young women. These causes can be
categorized in cultural and practical factors, which are related to the research question, as
discussed in the previous chapters. In table 3 these main factors are presented as well as
references to the interviews from which these topics emerged as being essentially linked to
the research question. The X in the table represents that this issue is discussed during the
interview.
R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
U U U U U U U U N N N N N N N N
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Cultural reasons
1) Inequality between sexes
X X
X
6
X X
X X X X X X
8
X X
X X X X
7
X
X X X
10
X X
X
X X X X X X X X X
14
X X
X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X
15
X X
4
X X 5
4
X X 2
2) Family obligations
X
3) Idealized image of women
4) The lack of role models
Practical reasons
1) Lack of diversity in sports
2) Unstructured programme
X
X
X
X
X X X X
3) Lack of communication
X
4) MCSC's location
X
X
X
X X
X
X X X
X
R R
S S
1 2
X X
X
X
X
X
X
4 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 6 5
Table 3: summarizes the responses of all interviewed.
RU= the respondents, young women, who use the MCSC
RN= the respondents, young women, who do not make use of the MCSC
RS= the respondents SCORE Staff members
During analysis of the research results, three important topics have come to the fore: Firstly,
a lack of role models (female employees), secondly a lack of diversity in sports and thirdly a
lack of a structured organized programme. Gradually during the interviews it was decided to
divide the environmental conditions into two categories: cultural and practical reasons. The
three main topics are highlighted in blue in the table. The distinction is made on the basis of
obtained information from the interviews.
46
Main finding 1: a lake of role model (female employee)
This subject was put to the fore by 10 of the 16 interviewed young women. The girls who use
the MCSC would like to have a female coach who would show the girls their potential to c
achieve goals. As mentioned by respondents 2 who do not make use of the MCSC: “What I
really miss at the sports centre is a woman leader to whom everyone can look up. I want to
learn volleyball, but there is no female coach present who can teach me.”
One of the staff members said: “The weakness of the sports centre is that the numbers of
girls are very ‘ncinci’ (small) and for sports codes like volleyball and handball is not one
coach. So we need more qualified coaches” RS1
Let them experience the sport. Not only that they can see it but also experience it. Ru1
All respondents complain about this fact that there is no female coach available who can
teach different sports codes.
Main finding 2: a lake of diversity in sports
A very important reason for the only 30% participation of young women is the small offer of
different sport codes. If the MCSC offered a variety of sports, then a larger target group could
be reached. This also becomes evident from the analysis.
“We have to have other teams, like a netball team. And involve more girls. Not only
soccer. A lot of girls in the community think that this is a place for boys who want to
play soccer. So make sure that you also can do other sports.” Ru6
“I do not go to the sports centre any more, because I do not like soccer and that was
the only sport played by that time. I would love to do some netball or handball but I
have never seen these sports being taught.” RN5
“Doing more tournaments with different sport encodes. That would encourage the
people to also do other sport codes that they like.”
Organize more activities, so that people recognize them. If they want to involve girls, the only
thing that she can say is that there is a meeting on Monday. For the rest is there not that
much for them. Ru1
47
“If I go to the sports centre, I want to have fun exercises. For me it is all about fun and
keeping my body in shape.”
A remarkable result of the interviews is that not only the young women find that diversity in
sports in insufficient. The staff members agree with that. For instance Tembisa Tshuka takes
part in activities organized by SCORE. She mentioned the following: “I think the way the
programme is planned, it caters mostly young men, because I have noticed that the sport
played most at the MCSC is soccer. And it is played most of the time by young men. The
interest of most women is in sports as netball, handball or volleyball. This is almost never
played in the Centre.” RS2
Main finding 3: Structured organized programme
Research shows that the main reason for young women to not return to the MCSC is the
unreliability of the sport code of their liking actually taking place.
“Make a schedule to give each other chances and pass on this message during
meetings so that youngsters will be involved too.”
“Work together. Find out what youngsters want and organize meetings to assess the
findings. Get together to develop new sport codes. Give coaching clinics to
youngsters so that they can become a coach one day in the future. The staff needs to
keep promises and their information needs to be reliable: If they say that there will be
another sport code at 4pm on Monday, there has to be one at 4pm on Monday. This
virtually never happens.”
Another important outcome of the study is the role of culture for participation in sports. As
one of the staff members Mzimkhulu Godlo said: “Most of the girls are not interested in
sports because they think all sports are meant for men, and most girls have numerous duties
in their homes, so girls do more work than boys. Parents are very protective towards girls,
more than with boys because they are afraid they will get pregnant or do drugs.”
The personal findings of the researcher include the conditions of communication in the global
organisation. This leads to a lot of irregular and uncontrolled activities. This was also
concluded from the results of the interviews. This is about the situation within SCORE in
general, not only about the participation of women. The results are that communication
48
conditions within MCSC and SCORE, lead to exclusion of newcomers, and lack of trust. This
also affects the users of MCSC. Respondents 2 who use the MCSC, mentioned the
following: “What I miss in the centre is respect for each other, most people just do what they
feel like, without paying attention to others or listening to each other.”
All respondents indicate the importance of more diversity in sport codes, a structured
programme and qualified female coaches. These important issues are also mentioned in the
Recommendations.
49
8 Conclusion
The entire investigation is described in detail in the previous chapters, in which was focused
on the research question “What is the reason that only 30% of the total user group in the
Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC) are young women?”.
After discussing the theoretical framework, the general information about South Africa, its
history, its culture and the issue of apartheid, after giving the internal and external analysis of
SCORE and the MCSC, and illustrating the situation for young women living in Mbekweni the
problems they are facing become more clear. The research has shown that there are cultural
and practical reasons for young women in terms of participation in sports. The seven reasons
are displayed below.
Cultural reasons
1) Inequality of women in society
South African society shows inequality between men and women. In general men work,
make decisions and are financially in charge. Women are supposed to do the remaining
tasks, including cooking, cleaning and laundry. They also take care of the children when they
are in need, when they are sick, or simply when they need attention. So this creates a
society in which men take decisions and are in charge and women have to perform all
remaining tasks. This has several consequences for sports. Firstly, men make their own
decisions, not considering young women in terms of participating in sports for instance.
Secondly, sports are usually something men have time for, and women do not.
2) Family obligation
South-African society has a view on the roles women should fulfil in society. One of the main
expectations is that women should take on responsibility for the household and the children.
These family obligations have a lot of consequences for women in South Africa. A lot of time
will be spent organizing the household, including activities such as laundry, cooking, and
cleaning for the whole family. Therefore spare time is very rare, and this significantly
decreases the time remaining for hobbies, sports or socializing. This also affects young
women, as they often have household obligations besides schoolwork, limiting the time
remaining for activities such as sports.
50
3) The idealized image of women
In society women are expected to adhere to an imposed ideal in terms of their appearance.
This ideal dictates that women should have some fat on their bodies. Especially in the black
part of society, if women are fat, this means that they are well fed, that therefore they have
money for food and because of this, being fat is a way of showing off wealth. This is a
problem for playing sports, and is contradictory to the western ideals and western idea of
healthiness. In western societies people are considered healthy if they are fit and skinny,
often the results of a healthy diet and sufficient exercise. This is quite the opposite in South
Africa, as the ideal perception excludes being skinny, but instead favours being fat. This is
bad for sports participation in two ways. Firstly because heavy exercise will most often
decrease your weight and fat levels. Secondly because when women are already fat, this will
often affect their enjoyment and, therefore, their motivation to participate in sport activities.
4) Lack of role models
Due to the reasons described above, very few women are active in the field of sports.
Successful South-African women participants in big international sports events are rare and
as a result women do not know better. They do not have any role models to look up to.
The practical reasons
1) Lack of diversity in sports
The first practical reason is a lack of diversity in sports. Human beings have different
interests, and this also goes for sports. Currently the main sport provided at the MCSC is
soccer, which attracts a lot of men. But as one can imagine, not all young women were
interested in soccer. The sports most enjoyed by girls are netball, volleyball and handball.
Some of these sports are sometimes available, others never. As people have different
preferences for sports, due to differences in build/physique, sex or personal preference, the
sports offered at the sport centre should reflect that. The more types of sports are offered,
the more participants will be attracted. This means that in order to attract more girls, the
sports provided need diversification.
2) Unstructured programme
The second practical reason for the low level of young women's participation is the lack of a
clearly defined programme at MSCS. SCORE employees make a sport programme for the
MCSC, with different sports for different days. The problem is, however, that no one sticks to
the programme. Therefore youngsters do not know what to expect when they walk into the
centre, neither when they when they make up their minds about going or not. This lack of
51
clarity also affects young women, as this is a more vulnerable group. Because the MCSC is
currently dominated by boys, the need for a clear schedule and set days for girls or mixed
days is very high. Without a good and clear structure the girls will stay away.
3) Lack of communication
Communication between SCORE's head office, the MCSC staff and the centre's young
leaders is not always clear and in line with each other. This creates a lot of confusions and
misunderstandings. SCORE's vision SCORE is not clearly communicated with MCSC staff
members. It seems as if the SCORE office does not have full confidence in MCSC staff
members. As a result the latter do not show initiatives to increase the interest of the sports
facility's participants, particularly to attract more young women. And clearly community
members feel this tension. As a result, whenever there is a good initiative, it is often met with
suspicion. One can also imagine that without clear communication to the community,
confidence is never built up and participants stay away. Being less pro-active then men,
particularly young women are affected by this lack of communication.
4) Location
The final practical reason for the low level of participation of young women is MCSC's
location. For some participants, the facility is just too far away from their houses, and
transport in the area is lacking. Therefore commuting by foot is the only way, and that can
take up to 45 minutes. As this is a significant amount of time, it disproportionally affects
women, as women in general have less time to travel due to household and family
obligations. Things that most men do not have. On top of that, during winter time it gets dark
early; if girls go to the centre after school they will have to go return home after nightfall. This
is a problem for most young women because their parents would not allow them to walk back
after dark.
52
9 Recommendations
There are three recommendations for SCORE to improve the participation of young women
in Mbekweni Community Sport Centre (MCSC). Firstly, hire a qualified female employee,
secondly offer a structured organized programme and thirdly provide clear communication.
1) Qualified female coach
A qualified female coach can act as a role model for the girls of Mbekweni. Girls can get
inspired and motivated to play sports as well. A role model can show the girls what they can
achieve if they are good at sports. She can also encourage them in terms of potential career
options. More young women will get interested to play sports at the MCSC because they
have someone to look up to and see the advantages of participation in sports. Further
research is needed on the requirements a qualified female coach will have to meet.
2) Structured organized programme
A structured organized programme in the MCSC will assure youngsters that there will be
regular sports activities and inform them properly about time schedules. Currently, this is
often not the case, and this makes potential participants stay away. Young women are
affected disproportionally because they are more in need of a clearly defined programme that
includes activities for them as well. Nowadays programmes for young women are hardly ever
scheduled. Currently there are activities set up for young women, but because these are not
frequent and at set times, uncertainty among potential participants remains as to when to go
and when to expect next time. Because it already supposes some considerable effort for
them to go in the first place, finding out there is no programme pushed them off even more.
Further research is needed to see what kind of structured program enables more young
women to participate in sports.
3) Clear communication
SCORE needs to communicate their way of thinking clearly to their employees and partners.
At this moment a lot of dissatisfaction arises amongst staff, youth leaders and partners,
together with distrust and frustration. Clear communication will positively influence the
assistants' mood and mind-set and help MSCS to achieve its goals. Once this achieved, the
team will gain more confidence. Currently one of SCORE's goals is improving young
53
women's participation of young women at the MCSC, staff members do not really put in a lot
of effort to achieve this. It appears, therefore, essential to develop clear communication,
firstly between staff and employees, and secondly between the MCSC and the target group.
Further research is needed about improved communication approaches for the NGO
SCORE.
54
Acknowledgments and words of thanks
First of all I want to thanks my wonderful host family from Mbekweni for the room, hospitality
and love they have given. It feels like I got a new family! Thanks ‘Tata’ and ‘Mama’!
Thanks to my friends Shane, Vuyo and Vovo who make me feel at ease, showed me around
and told me what could and could not be done in the township. And thanks for all the fun we
had.
I want to thanks Kathleen McDougall for the time she gave me, for the very helpful interviews
and the data she shard with me.
All the colleagues of SCORE thank you for the support and fine collaboration. A special word
of thanks to my colleague Tilili.
I also want to thanks all interviewed girls and SCORE employees for the patience and for
answering all my questions.
And thanks for my supervisor Eustuce Makumbe for guiding, thinking along and constructive
criticism.
Last but definitely not least a big thanks to Rob Barnhoorn for checking my text and a big
thanks to my loved family Lizet, Peter and my brother Tim for checking my text and giving me
the supports I needed.
Louise Oldeman, October 2014.
55
11 Reference
African National Congress (1971). International Boycott of Apartheid Sport, anc.org.za,
retreived October 14, 2014, http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=6871&t=Boycotts
Baarda, D. B., de Goede, M. P. M., & Teunissen, T. (2009). Basisboek kwalitatief onderzoek.
Groningen: Noordhoff Uitgevers
BBC News (2013). Oscar Pistorius: Olympian and Paralympian faces murder charge,
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60
12 Appendix
Appendix 1
Safety in South Africa
(Crimestatssa, 2012)
Appendix 2:
Topic list
1. How did you get involved with the SCORE? And later on with the Mbekweni
61
Community Sport Centre?
2. What are the tasks that you perform at the MCSC?
3. What are the strengths, and what are the weaknesses of the MCSC?
4. What do you think of girls when they play sports?
5. What are the main problems that the girls face when you are talking about sport?
6. Why do you think not a lot of girls play sports?
7. What is your opinion of the program of SCORE in the MCSC?
8. What would be reasons for you to go and not to go the MCSC?
9. What is, in you opinion, the reason for the low participation of girls in the sport
centre?
10. What could the MCSCdo to improve the participation of girls?
Appendix 3: 4.2 Nature of townships
Here can be found the background information about the uprising in Soweto.
It is therefore not surprising that many anti- government protests were organized during the
apartheid era. "In 1976 more than 600 people were killed in clashes between black
protesters and security forces during uprising which started in Soweto."- According to the
BBC NEWS1. In 1960 the police opened fire on a crowd at Sharpeville who had come to
burn their passbooks. After protest-related violence erupted the whites ruled almost
unchallenged during the 1960s and early 1970s. Then in June 1976 black anger finally boiled
over. It was the passbooks laws, and the whole system of apartheid, that formed the
backdrop to the protest that became known as the Soweto uprising.
Appendix 4: 6.3 History of SCORE
At the start of SCORE the vast majority of black South Africans were and lived in townships
on the outskirts of major towns and cities. In the early 1990's is was dangerous to live in a
township. Therefore, NGOs like SCORE wanted to offer development opportunities for poor
South Africans. Nowadays, SCORE has involved in sport-for-development work for more
than twenty years.
It was an American Olympic rower, Juliet Thompson, who founded SCORE in 1991. That
was after she had visited a township and was amazed that she didn't find any sports facilities
in the township at all. Just one year after, the first international group of eleven volunteers
came over and started teaching in the same township. Their goal was to involve as many
children and youngsters in sports as possible.
62
After the release of Nelson Mandela in 1993, the political climate in South Africa started to
change and the National Party had to hand over political power to the ANC. This also
affected the implementation of SCORE programmes since the safety of volunteers working in
the townships could not be guaranteed anymore. The organization now realized that they
were depending too much on volunteers. That is when they started to train inhabitants of the
townships, particularly teachers and sports leaders.
It was a very important event when the African National Congress (ANC) came to power in
1994, after the first South African democratic election. It was not only vital for the country
itself, but also for the non-profit sports-for-development organisation
SCORE. Because of the more stable political climate SCORE could now go back to the
townships and start their sport-for-development work again. In 1994 SCORE was registered
as a South African NGO and a year later the organisation started to expand its programmes
to more townships in South Africa. Six years later is was very special for SCORE that they
were granted money from the development budget of the European Union. In 2000 SCORE
also started its first international programme in Namibia.
Not long after, SCORE aimed to spread HIV/AIDS awareness through sports by integrating
HIV/AIDS awareness into its programmes. The organisation joined the ‘Kicking Aids Out!’
network and through workshops they linked physical activity and movement with HIV and
AIDS prevention and education.
In 2004 things changed a bit for SCORE since donations from the European Union stopped.
But two years later luck changed after they were allocated a National Lottery Project. When
the FIFA World Cup was played in South Africa in 2010, SCORE launched a campaign
called ‘SCORE for 2010’. It ran through the whole period of the World Cup and was called
the ‘SCORE cup’. It was a community-based football programme involving more than 10,000
children and youngsters in more than fifty townships all through Southern Africa.
The year 2010 proved important for SCORE also for another reason: the Mbekweni
Community Sports Centre (MCSC) was opened. A year later the organisation celebrated its
20th anniversary. At that time it was considered to be one of the leading sports-for
development organizations in South Africa: it grew from a small-scale sports development
project in a township close to Cape Town to a highly esteemed organization with
international divisions.
63

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