The City at play: a netball match takes place during the 2006 Joburg Employee Games (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

RELATED LINKS: Joburg employees come out to play WITH the success of the first ever Council Employee Games held at the Johannesburg Stadium last week, the City is already planning for next year's event to be bigger and better. Read more Joburg to launch Employee Games CITY workers will show what they are made of when they challenge one another on the sports fields during the inaugural Joburg Employee Games on Friday. Read more

Bowls was just one of the sports on the menu at the Joburg Employee Games (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

Crowd pleaser: the men's soccer (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

City staff put their sports skills to test Joburg City staff members were out of the office, testing their sports prowess against one another at the annual Joburg Employee Games this week. November 30, 2006 By Lucky Sindane HUNDREDS of City workers tested their strength against each other when they came out to play at the annual Joburg Employee Games. The women's team show their skill on the pitch (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg) Brightly dressed athletes from all the City's regions and utilities, agencies and companies gathered at Marks Park Sports Club in Emmarentia on Wednesday, 29 November to compete in various disciplines, from cycling to bowling and from ladies seven-a-side soccer to darts. Themed "Living, working and playing in Joburg", the games are aimed at promoting a spirit of unity among City staff. "We have used the medium of sports to bring together a divided people; we are forging a nation out of disparities of the past," said Executive Mayor Amos Masondo. "We are looking forward to consolidating these gains even further as we move into the future." Speaking about the games, the member of the mayoral committee for corporate services and administration, Christine Walters, said: "We want to show the employees that we are one family. We can't always give them instructions to do things, we have to also show them that we care." Some of the games on the day were soccer, netball, cricket, golf, cycling, a 5km fun run and walk, darts, morabaraba, bowling and volleyball. The men's soccer and the ladies seven-a-side soccer were the crowd pullers, with more than two coaches standing on the sidelines and giving instructions. Spectators braved the heat to encourage their colleagues, and Walters seemed to enjoy the seven-a-side matches, egging the players on. "Next year I'm going to take part in the 5km walk and I'm also going to encourage other councillors and head of departments to take part in these games," she said. Masondo said: "Any nation's health and its status in development are also measured by the extent of its sporting activities and achievements. Sport is therefore a platform through which we can measure ourselves and our society." In December 2005 the council adopted an Employee Sports Policy to encourage its staff to be more active. The mayor also announced that Johannesburg would host the Gauteng South African Local Government Association Inter-Municipal Games in 2007. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za