Latest / Drive with John Perlman / Commentator paints pictures for visually impaired Deby fans
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: John Perlman on 702.
- 0:02Speaker 2: 3 to 6 p.m. Well, all sorts of wonderful things
- 0:09Speaker 2: happen in a packed football stadium. They happen in especially
- 0:14Speaker 2: wonderful ways when it is the Soweto Derby between Chiefs
- 0:18Speaker 2: and Pirates. Somewhere in the stands on Saturday, this was
- 0:23Speaker 2: going on.
- 0:24Speaker 1: Just enough alone it come on up with me come
- 0:26Speaker 1: on up come on up.
- 0:44Speaker 2: That is the sound of the man who is my
- 0:46Speaker 2: new guest. He is Camogello, Kamza the commentator, Signolo. And
- 0:52Speaker 2: just for perspective, if you weren't here earlier when I
- 0:56Speaker 2: spoke about it briefly, Kamza was not sitting in a
- 1:00Speaker 2: commentator's booth. Kamza was not sitting in the press box.
- 1:04Speaker 2: Kamza was sitting in the stands with three visually impaired
- 1:09Speaker 2: football fans to whom he was committed to. to bring
- 1:14Speaker 2: to life the Soweto Derby in all its audio and
- 1:18Speaker 2: sensory magnificence. And he joins us now. Welcome to 702 Drive.
- 1:24Speaker 2: You did an absolutely wonderful thing at the Derby on Saturday.
- 1:29Speaker 2: It's part of a bigger mission that you have. Tell
- 1:32Speaker 2: us why you did it and tell us why you
- 1:34Speaker 2: want to keep doing this. Good afternoon to you.
- 1:38Speaker 1: Good afternoon to you, Sean. Thank you so much for
- 1:41Speaker 1: having me. I really appreciate for the invite. Let me
- 1:46Speaker 1: take my gratitude to the Most High Court and all
- 1:51Speaker 1: people who have been showing me support throughout this initiative.
- 1:58Speaker 1: I would say the likes of Amafenwe too and the
- 2:01Speaker 1: likes of Mr. Motao and many more. They've really made
- 2:07Speaker 1: this possible. because without the likes of Amafen Wetu, it
- 2:13Speaker 1: was not going to be easy for me to trend
- 2:18Speaker 1: the way it is. So I take all the credit
- 2:22Speaker 1: to the Most High God and Amafen Wetu together with Mr. Mutiao.
- 2:26Speaker 1: And in terms of where I want to see this
- 2:30Speaker 1: thing going, I would like to see this thing going
- 2:35Speaker 1: forward in such a way that we get a professional
- 2:38Speaker 1: platform and the support from all the citizens of South
- 2:42Speaker 1: Africa to keep this thing moving because I believe in
- 2:45Speaker 1: inclusivity and whereby people who are living with different abilities,
- 2:53Speaker 1: they shouldn't have a barrier to associate or to meet
- 2:57Speaker 1: or to gather with other people. You understand? So I
- 3:00Speaker 1: think that is what drives me most. Yeah.
- 3:05Speaker 2: So there's a situation. There are three football fans, visually impaired,
- 3:12Speaker 2: Muzikaiise Goumede, Theophilus Maholo, and Mlungisi Chabalala. How did they
- 3:18Speaker 2: connect with you? You spoke about, I'm a fan swear to,
- 3:21Speaker 2: presumably that's the organization that puts you together. But how
- 3:25Speaker 2: did you meet up with these three guys?
- 3:28Speaker 1: When I got employed at Southwest Houthi College, I found
- 3:34Speaker 1: that the three students, together with, there is a lot
- 3:38Speaker 1: of them, in fact, however, the three are the ones
- 3:42Speaker 1: who showed support over this initiative. So when I was
- 3:46Speaker 1: working there from 2021, currently I'm also working at Southwest Houthi.
- 3:53Speaker 1: So my office, I work in the office called Student
- 3:57Speaker 1: Support Office, whereby we deal with students and I had
- 4:02Speaker 1: to chat with them so many times. And then when
- 4:05Speaker 1: we were chatting, it happened that they sparked my interest
- 4:08Speaker 1: in such a way that the way they analyze life,
- 4:12Speaker 1: the way they analyze football, it was amazing. So when
- 4:16Speaker 1: I was doing my own comparison, so when I was,
- 4:20Speaker 1: Comparing their analysis to compare to the people who have
- 4:24Speaker 1: full sight, I was like, no, man, this is waste.
- 4:28Speaker 1: They need to get exposure. So it's not all about
- 4:32Speaker 1: me doing commentary. They are also sharing very profound and
- 4:36Speaker 1: unbelievable commentary. So I was like, look, guys, let's go
- 4:41Speaker 1: to stadium. And let's see what's going to happen because
- 4:44Speaker 1: you see opportunities that are limited for people with disabilities. Right.
- 4:49Speaker 1: But with your capability, I believe something will come up. Yeah.
- 4:54Speaker 2: No, it's absolutely amazing. Now, take us into the stadium
- 4:59Speaker 2: with you, Kamsa. There's a lot of noise going on
- 5:03Speaker 2: around you. I know you had your technical support, and
- 5:07Speaker 2: let's give credit to Sibusiso Nomalo, I believe, connecting up
- 5:11Speaker 2: the audio system. Was it difficult for them to hear
- 5:15Speaker 2: you and for you to concentrate on what you were
- 5:17Speaker 2: doing with, what, 90,000 people going crazy around you?
- 5:24Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it has been a challenge. It has
- 5:28Speaker 1: been a challenge, truly speaking, because Mr. Subusiso Numalo deserves
- 5:33Speaker 1: credit also because he has been seeing us at the
- 5:36Speaker 1: stadium so many times. And when he approached me, he
- 5:39Speaker 1: was like, I liked the consistency. We were going to
- 5:43Speaker 1: stadium without equipment until we meet Mr. Subusiso Numalo. He's
- 5:48Speaker 1: the one who came up with his own equipment. to
- 5:53Speaker 1: give us so that it can be easy for my
- 5:57Speaker 1: three guys to be able to hear me because without
- 6:01Speaker 1: those equipment, it was difficult. Sometimes when it's halftime, my
- 6:05Speaker 1: voice is no longer audible because I'm trying to make
- 6:09Speaker 1: sure that everyone must hear me. Yeah.
- 6:12Speaker 2: And what about getting into the stadium? Because you're dealing
- 6:17Speaker 2: with people who are visually impaired. There's four or five
- 6:21Speaker 2: of you together. It's a crowded stadium. And as I
- 6:25Speaker 2: understand it, no special arrangements made for you. Was that
- 6:29Speaker 2: a tricky part of things as well?
- 6:32Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Look, I will be honest with you. It
- 6:36Speaker 1: is always difficult to access the stadium. However, sometime last year,
- 6:41Speaker 1: Kaiser Chiefs, they saw the documentary that was done by
- 6:45Speaker 1: Amafenwe too. They called us and then they promised and
- 6:49Speaker 1: they are also doing it. that whenever they are hosting
- 6:52Speaker 1: a league game, they give us tickets. So they give
- 6:56Speaker 1: us complimentary tickets. And again, when we go to Loftus Festival,
- 7:00Speaker 1: there is a designated area whereby people who are living
- 7:04Speaker 1: with disabilities, they sit there. So when it comes to
- 7:09Speaker 1: entering the stadium, it is always difficult because most people,
- 7:13Speaker 1: they don't care. They don't care, you know. I remember
- 7:16Speaker 1: this at the time, the Soweto Derby that recently... took place.
- 7:23Speaker 1: We were supposed to go to gate H. The person
- 7:27Speaker 1: who bought ticket for us was stuck in gate H
- 7:31Speaker 1: and we were in gate M. So we tried to
- 7:34Speaker 1: ask the security officers, can you please just give us
- 7:39Speaker 1: a way to gate H and then somebody to escort us.
- 7:43Speaker 1: We won't sneak to the stadium. There are somebody who's
- 7:45Speaker 1: stuck with our tickets. And then, truly speaking, it was difficult.
- 7:51Speaker 1: We had a very long way to get access to
- 7:55Speaker 1: the stadium. It is always a challenge to us.
- 7:58Speaker 2: Well, listen, many, many congratulations. And the very best wishes
- 8:03Speaker 2: come from the commentator, Sipu Siso Ngumalo, stepping up to
- 8:09Speaker 2: provide technical support. Our fans, where to are involved, Kaiser
- 8:13Speaker 2: Chiefs and Sundowns, it seems are stepping up. And it's
- 8:16Speaker 2: a brilliant thing that they're doing. I'll talk a little
- 8:18Speaker 2: bit more later in the show about my own experience
- 8:22Speaker 2: in the UK of facilities for visually impaired football fans.
- 8:27Speaker 2: They've done some great things in English clubs as well
- 8:31Speaker 2: over many, many years. Later for that, this is 702 Drive.