Role players in Mpumalanga gather to share excitement of Dr Mathews Phosa Marathon

As a way to honour the impactful life of Dr Mathews Phosa while giving back to the various communities in the province, the Mpumalanga NPO Association will be hosting the first-ever Dr Mathews Phosa Annual Marathon in 2024.

As part of the build-up to the much-anticipated Dr Mathews Phosa Marathon, a pre-launch event was hosted on Thursday November 23 at the Khayalami Hotel. Various stakeholders and officials attended this successful event.

The secretary general and spokesperson for the Mpumalanga NPO Association, Sipho Zitha, said, “The aim was for the key stakeholders to come together, including the organisation working with people with disabilities, and organisations working in gender-based violence, early childhood development and sports. We were meeting with our main stakeholder, Dr Mathews Phosa, as well as the guests he brought with him. We need to mobilise resources, so he brought business people and the bank to listen to our challenges.”

In his speech, Phosa said, “Today I stand before the people of Mpumalanga who have made me the Mathews  Phosa that I am. It is indeed an honour for one to be honoured, and more so if such an honour is received while one’s heart is still beating and can be appreciated in person. When the chairperson of the Mpumalanga NPO Association, Pr Simon Mdluli, came to express their intention, something in me said let me go and listen.

When I started receiving correspondences from the secretary general, Zitha, on the proposed Dr Mathews Phosa Marathon initiative, and the cause they stand for regarding resource mobilisation for early childhood development, GBV, persons with disabilities and sports, I saw a home in the Mpumalanga NPO Association, a home where warmth, care, kindness and love can be experienced by the people of Mpumalanga, especially the vulnerable.”

Phosa said he is appealing to all business communities in the province and country to step forward and contribute to these organisations.

“I would like to take the lead and present to the Mpumalanga NPO Association, as per the commitment I made a few months ago, that I will make available a small contribution of R100 000,” he said.

Phosa concluded by saying that it is in our hands, and that all of us play a part to ensure that these organisations are effective and sufficient in delivering their aims and objectives.