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As South Africa’s netball team, SPAR Proteas, takes on the rest of the world at the Netball World Cup 2023 (NWC2023), the players have encouraged fans to work hard if they want to follow in their footsteps.

Captain of SPAR Proteas Bongiwe Msomi (34) said hard work is the key to success.  “When some of the kids say ‘I want to be like you one day’, I always say: ‘You can even do better’.  “It is hard work to play and constantly be at your best,” she said.

Having escaped an abusive relationship that almost landed her in a prison cell, Nthabiseng Mmina, from Mokopane in Limpopo, is now helping other women in similar situations.

In 2017, Mmina had to endure gender-based violence (GBV) at the hands of her then partner.

As the country prepares to host the first ever Netball World Cup (NWC2023) in Africa from 28 July to 6 August 2023, it is all systems go for South Africa’s netball team, the SPAR Proteas.

When the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) conducted a workshop in the Mpofana Local Municipality, in KwaZulu-Natal in 2019 to encourage young people to start household gardens in their communities, a group of five friends decided to start a cooperative after the training.

Abalimi Multipurpose Primary Cooperative is currently farming four of 12 hectares of land zoned for agriculture, which they are leasing from local community members.

While the floods that battered large parts of KwaZulu-Natal in 2022 caused damage amounting to billions of rands and claimed lives, the event also opened the doors of opportunity for a despondent young man. 

In just over a year after those fateful events, the 34-year-old went from being unemployed for over five years to producing decorative furniture for one of the country’s leading retailers.

The government has resolved to adopt a two-step approach in implementing the analogue switch-off as part of the Broadcast Digital Migration programme.