Mpumalanga‘s u18 boys’ team secured promoted to the A-Section of the SASHOC National Week after a dominant run in the 2025 B-Section competition, which brought them six wins from seven matches.
Coach Brightly Mashaba‘s charges excelled at both ends of the park, scoring an impressive 28 goals while conceding only six.
They wrapped up their impressive campaign with a commanding 4-0 win over Eastern Gauteng in the B-Section final, in Pietermaritzburg, on Saturday.
Their sole loss came in a tight group stage clash, which Northern Free State edged 1-0, but they bounced back in style and won five games on the trot to claim the title.
After his team had won the final and secured promotion with that win, Mashaba shared: “I feel a lot of emotions. It’s a long process and a lot of structures that one has had to get right, and one has had to put in place to allow this, because, obviously, you don’t want to go up and come back down.
“So, the idea is that we are able to sustain this. It is not a one-hit-wonder type of situation,” he told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“I think every province has challenges, but our challenges are very unique because the distance from one point of the province to another can reach up to 480 km. But we have put things in place to allow us to keep that growth, to keep that development going.
“I’m hoping that we can take this for our province, and it ignites something for us. That, ultimately, is the goal.”
Mashaba said preparing for the SASHOC National Week had been challenging, with players juggling school and exam commitments.
“I think this year, we understood what needed to happen, and a lot of sacrifices needed to take place,” he explained. “There was a situation where we were like: it’s either you’re going to buy into the programme, or you’re not going. We had to take that route, and we did well.”
The challenges that lie ahead in the A-Section in 2026 will be a lot tougher, but Mashaba already has a clear sense of what it will take to remain for Mpumalanga to be competitive.
“As a province, we’ve got to understand that there’s a process. We’ve got to understand that from the age of u14, we’ve got to produce guys. We’ve got to work hard in developing those guys. The u16s have got to pull through because, ultimately, that’s our product.
“So, a lot of vision and dedication has to go to u14, u15, and u16, ultimately with the hope of u18 being a top product.”
Mashaba said Mpumalanga’s B-Section-winning squad was built from schools ranging across the province. “We’ve got three regions in Mpumalanga: Gert Sibande, Ehlanzeni, and Nkangala,” he explained. “We’ve got six [schools] from Nkangala region, two from Gert Sibande, and four from the Ehlanzeni region.
“We’ve tried to get many schools involved, because the better the league is, the better we become. That is our appeal from the top to the schools: get better, invest more, and we will become better.”
Mashaba said one of the benefits of earning promotion to the A-Section will be the improved ability of Mpumalanga to retain the top talent the province has worked so hard to develop.
“We’ve been working on this – I, personally, and our management group – for probably about 12 years. That’s how long this has been.
“There has been a lot of money spent, and a lot of people who have come through the process. So, what this does for an u14 Mpumalanga player, an u13 Mpumalanga player, is [make them understand]: “Now I can stay in the province because now there is a future. There’s an A Section’.
“That has always been our problem. We lose a lot of players. We develop them and then they go away, which is not a bad thing because it shows we are doing something good. But now, it allows us to retain the talent, to develop it even more, the Mpumalanga way, with that Mpumalanga DNA.”
Mpumalanga SASHOC National Week B-Section Results
Pool Y
Mpumalanga 7-1 Limpopo
Mpumalanga 0-1 Northern Free State
Mpumalanga 4-2 Northern Gauteng B
Mpumalanga 5-0 Northern Cape
Mpumalanga 7-2 Southern Free State B
Semi-finals
Mpumalanga 1-0 Border A
Final
Mpumalanga 4-0 Eastern Gauteng
Vuyo Ndudane is a Sport Management and Journalism graduate from the Vaal University of Technology and the University of South Africa. She has experience as a content producer for Mhlobo Wenene FM sport show, currently working as a Sport Multimedia Controller, Researcher and multiple sport freelance writer under the wings of Sport Journalist. She admires Kyle Walker and Vinicius Jnr. She’s just a lover of sport and trying to change the perception of Women’s Sport in South Africa – one article a time.
Vuyo Ndudane
ssschoolsplus.co.za
