Lemmy Mathye Madala (39) was born in Namakgale location in Phalaborwa Limpopo, he grew up as an able bodied person with all capabilities however on 13 November 2003 when he was 25 years old he had a misfortune and was involved in a motor vehicle accident while on duty. The accident left him wheelchair bound. Hopeless about the future Madala felt life was over for him and all his dreams are shattered. “I felt like I didn’t have the will to live nor have purpose. I refused to register for a disability grant because I had so many goals and the grant alone was not going to cover all my expenses. I was lucky because my wife was working as a Domestic worker around Phalaborwa town, so she was the breadwinner”, said Madala.
In his lifetime Madala has always surrounded himself with positive minded people, consequently after the car accident his friends and family motivated him to continue being involved in sports like the old days at high school. Prior the accident Madala was self-centered and not willing to take advice from anyone, but after the accident his approach towards others changed, “Sometimes in life you must pause and let other people assist you which was not my motto, before the accident I would do everything on my own without asking for assistance”, said Madala.
Madala dedicated his life to sports and his passion grew, he was unemployed for almost 3 years while submitting CVs to the Limpopo Association for Persons with Disability (APD) which liaises with employers for people with disability. On 01 March 2011 Madala’s life changed, when he was called by South African Police Services (SAPS) Limpopo to work in the Human Resources (HR) Department. Madala being a sports enthusiast joined the SAPS sports club and became a star in the Championships for people living with disability raising the flag for the SAPS Limpopo team nationally.
Madala’s excellence in sports earned him a new position at SAPS as an Administrator for Sports Development for people living with disability. As an administrator he continued to participate in the SAPS National Championships being involved in different sporting codes namely javelin, wheelchair race, discus, shot put and cycling. He is competent in all the sporting codes and has many accolades to back that up. The Palabora Mining Company and Palabora Foundation saw Madala’s potential and sponsored him with a new hand cycle wheelchair on 25 August 2017
Madala’s long term goal is to represent South Africa in the highly acclaimed Paralympic competition “I want to qualify for the South African Paralympics team and represent my country, province and area in world stage and strive to move into professional cycling race fraternity”, said Madala.
Accolades
2011 SAPS National Championship Roedeport – 1 x Gold medals in Javelin, 1 x Gold medal in 100m wheelchair race and 1 x silver medal for Discus.
Recognition: Best disabled athlete of the tournament
2012 SAPS National Championship Oudtshoorn – 1 x Gold medal Javelin, 1 x Gold medal in 800m Cycling, 1 x Gold medal Shot Put and 1 x Gold medal Discus.
Poitjiekos 2012 received 1x Gold medal 10km wheelchair race
Recognition: Awarded certificate, by the National Commissioner and sport blazer
2013 – SAPS National Championship Limpopo 3 x Gold medals (new records) 1 x Javelin Gold medal, 1 x Discus Gold medal and 1 x Shot Put Gold medal.
Recognition: Awarded Trophy and certificate for best disable athlete.
2014 – SAPS National Championship Secunda (Mpumalanga) – 3 x Gold medals (new records) 1 x Javelin, 1 x Discus Gold medal and 1 x Shot put Gold medal
Recognitions: Sport person of the year award for category of people living with disability, National Excellent awards sports person of the year and the reigning National SAPS record holder for javelin, Shot Put and discus sporting codes.
2015 – SAPS National Championship at Potchefstroom 1 x Gold medal Javelin, 1 x Gold medal Discus and 1 x Gold medal Shot Put
2016 – Nedbank Rio Olympics Qualification challenge Bloemfontein 1 x Gold medal Javelin, 1 x Bronze medal Shot Put and 1 x Bronze medal Discuss.
2017- SAPS National Cycling Championship Gauteng 25km 1 x Silver medal, 15km 1 x Gold medal, 35km 1 x Silver medal and 20km 1 x Silver medal
Recognition: Best disable cyclist of the tournament
2017 – Foskor 21km half marathon 1 x Gold med