A SINGER who is a member of the Afrosoul group wants to motivate his colleagues about the importance of exercise to prevent diseases. He will do this by running the Comrades Marathon for the first time on June 14 this year.
Sabelo Ngema will be one of the thousands of runners who will leave Durban, heading to Pietermaritzburg, in this race which will be held for the 99th time this year. This singer will not be the first to use running to raise awareness of the importance of taking care of health as last year, he and his colleagues ran from Durban to Port Edward, teaching about mental illnesses.
“God created us in such a way that nothing can fail us to do it. When I saw my old grandfather finish Comrades last year, I told myself that I want to challenge myself to finish it. I have run marathons (42.2km), so I said let’s hear Comrades,” said Sabelo.
He said that running helps him mentally and physically because he forgets about problems when he is on the road.
“You say that when you run long distances, you build a floor mentally, you have bought cars. You come back with new strategies to improve yourself, that’s why I associate it with mental illnesses because you get tired and the stress goes away,” she said.
He said that even at home, the situation gets better when you exercise because you are less tired and stressed, it is lower.
“For those of us who are married, it’s fun at home. My mother always laughs and cooks well. If you’re a man, you’re always happy, don’t worry about going to men’s clinics because you’ll become a jerk. That’s one of the good things that exercise does because the family is united,” said Sabelo who is married to his colleague who sings with him in the group, Thandeka Zulu.
He said he is greatly inspired by the kwaito singer who is also a teacher, Kabelo Mabalane, who has run Comrades for many times.
He went on to say that there are many others like DJ Sndara, who has also run the Comrades Marathon before.
“I want our brothers in the entertainment sector to exercise regularly and bring them down to Pharaoh’s camps. I know I will sound like a self-righteous person but let’s use alcohol as a pleasure at that time, not to overuse it because it will harm our bodies. Let’s not exercise. Look at father White Horse that when he is on stage, he passes small children.”
He said that by exercising he has always had energy and there is no need to use stimulants to help his health.
“I remember years ago when L’vovo fell on stage, I was one of the first to go to help him. I can see now that he is working out, which inspires me and I hope there are others who can learn from it.”
He concluded by stating that he will start running groups near where he lives, in Reservoir Hills with the aim of encouraging others.