City of Tshwane Deputy Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya paid a courtesy visit to legendary soccer star Lucas ” Masterpieces” Moripe at his home in Mozankoma Street, Atteridgeville on Thursday as part of her 67 minutes of service to the community in line with Mandela Day celebrations.
Dr Moya presented the former dribbling wizard with a new wheelchair, much to his surprise and delight.
Soccer fans of yore, who saw at first hand the miraculous feats of Moripe on the soccer pitch, are still adamant that to date no single single football player can surpass Moripe’s ball-juggling skills.
The awe-inspired fans still vouch that Moripe made famous fellow football stars like Kaizer Motaung and Jomo Sono look like minnows back in the day.
It is therefore not surprising but befitting that Super Stadium in Atteridgeville has now been renamed after Moripe.
Super Stadium is where football genius Moripe strutted his stuff in the 1970s until his team Pretoria Callie’s was relegated from the professional ranks at the end of 1980.
Moripe also played overseas in countries like England and Hong Kong in his heyday.
“I was honoured to form part of the delegation that visited Moripe here in Atteridgeville to present him with a wheelchair,” said Moya.
“Moripe is a soccer legend, he had an admirable career and at some point, in his life he was nicknamed “the god of football,”‘ enthused Moya.
“My department has continuously visited Mr Moripe over the years to help check on his well-being,” said Moya, explaining that the 74-year-old Moripe has been wheelchair-bound for several years now.
Moya said her department engaged President of Shaka Easter Games Tshepo Letjane to assist in purchasing the wheelchair for Moripe.
“The one thing that we wanted to ensure as we honour Moripe was that he is comfortable and not incapacitated to move with ease,” she said.
“We acknowledge that we have a stadium named after him but that is not enough, and my department has purchased 60 copies of his recently published book, which is a narrative of his life story,” said Moya.
“The support given to Mr Moripe forms part of my commitment to growing a passion for sports development in Tshwane,” said Moya.
Besides serving as the Deputy Mayor, Moya is also MMC for Community and Social Development in the City of Tshwane.
Meanwhile, City of Tshwane Council Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana was at Mamelodi High School on Mandela Day.
The Speaker planted three trees at the school and rewarded top achieving 2023 Matric learners of the school with tablet computers.
“Last year I promised the Mamelodi High School Matric class of 2023 that if they do well in their examinations and collectively achieve an over 90% pass rate then I will come back and reward them,” said Ndzwanana.
“I am here to fulfill the promise that I made to the learners last year and I handed them fifteen tablets, planted three trees and named those three trees after the three best-performing learners of the school in the 2023 Matric examinations,” enthused the Speaker.
Mamelodi High School achieved a 90,4% pass rate in the 2023 Matric exams.