“There is talent abounding in this facility that cannot be held back or ignored and therefore has to be developed.”

This was said by the HOD of the Department of Arts and Culture, Mr Mishack Mulaudzi, who was speaking on behalf of the MEC of the department, Mrs Joyce Mashamba, during the official launching of the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre 2010 Legacy in Louis Trichardt last Friday.

He said that his department had been tasked with the huge responsibility of promoting social and nation building. “We have taken up the challenge of uniting our people and we have carefully prepared our strategy for going into the future to include this element. The programme will go beyond this event to also include the training of inmates in coaching, team management and the officiating at football matches,” he said.

Mulaudzi added that as the department they believed that this project would contribute on a large scale to rehabilitation and social cohesion within the correctional centre. He further acknowledged that “Having realized the magnanimous positive results that can be hailed from the hosting of this event; we have taken up the challenge of ensuring that 2010 leaves a lasting legacy for all our citizens beyond the actual staging of football matches around the country.”

The 2010 legacy soccer tournament is said to start on August 15, where teams from all the three facilities within the centre will compete against each other and against the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.

The department also pledged to donate soccer kits, balls and nets to all of the 36 soccer teams at the prison.