Political party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) successfully held its 2nd Annual Voters Soccer Tournament in Sunnyside, Tshwane on Saturday.
The tournament was hosted by the party’s Ward 81 committee under the chairpersonship of Majuda Mauwane at the Sunnyside Primary School sport field.
The sports field was crowded with party supporters and soccer fans.
“It is the second year running that we have organised this tournament with the aim of recruiting people of Sunnyside to become active voters in the ward irrespective of the political party they are voting for,” said Mauwane.
“As Chairperson of the Ward 81 Committee in Sunnyside I always come across people complaining about lots of issues in the area and my response to them has always been that they must take part in the voting process especially in local government elections, so that they can bring about the change that they want irrespective of the political party that they vote for,” said Mauwane.
“As a ward committee we then came up with the idea of forming a bond among all voters through a soccer tournament of this nature,” he said.
Mauwane said after realising that there are informal soccer teams in many taverns in Ward 81, they organised a soccer tournament whereby teams from those taverns would play against one another while in the process registering them as voters.
“All the soccer players taking part in the tournament are registered voters,” said a proud Mauwane.
The names of the tavern-based soccer teams are Blue Stars, Black Diamond, Shoprite and Enzos Musketeers.
Mauwane said besides registering the players as voters, the tournament helps players to been seen and assessed by talent scouts from professional teams in the country and that this year Tebogo Munyai from AmaTuks was invited to come and watch the abundant soccer talent in Sunnyside.
The tournament also keeps young kids away from the streets and some of them may in the future end up playing for the national team Bafana Bafana.
Though the EFF Regional leadership was not present at the tournament, scores of ward committee leaders from neighbouring wards attended the event.
Mauwane expressed a wish that the tournament would be a weekly event but that such a scenario would require more sponsors and funds.
“Come 2026 local government elections, we want to approach people that we know and who also know us and ask them to vote for us,” he said.
Member of the Ward 81 community Percy Sepaela told Tshwane Talks at the event that he came to live in Sunnyside in 1991 and that he is a member of the
“The soccer initiative is aimed at uniting people of different nationalities and races through sports, and we are encouraging people to be voters in general, but we are galvanizing support for the EFF in particular regarding the 2026 local government elections,” he enthused.
“Through this tournament we are also raising awareness regarding gender-based violence and other ills in the community and I must say we have seen the good things that the EFF is doing in the Sunnyside community on a daily basis,” said Sepaela.
Sunnyside Ward 80 Chairperson Nare Lemao said the soccer tournament helps ward committee members like him to engage the public meaningfully and not only be seen during election campaigning.
“At a soccer tournament like this, one gets to hear people’s grievances in a relaxed mood because at a formal meeting tampers always flare up and some people can’t express themselves well in such an environment” he said.
Coach of Enzo Musketeers FC, which won the soccer tournament by beating Shoprite FC 4-1, Xolani Themba said the tournament was very tough and that he had to come up with alternative plans to win at all costs.
Coach of the losing team Shoprite FC Vincent Kekana said his charges played well and that they lost the final match of the tournament due to some football tactics which they as Shoprite FC do not possess.
He vowed that his team would do better in next year’s tournament and win it.
Medals and cash prizes were awarded to all the teams that took part in the tournament.