Programme Director
The Nakani Family
Premier of Eastern Cape, Ms Kiviet and all the Provincial Executive Council members present here today
The Provincial Leadership of the African National Congress present
Members of Parliament and the Provincial Legislatures
Councilors and Local Leadership of the ANC and of the Alliance
The representative of the Collective of the South African Rugby Union, Mr. Mveleli Edwin Ncula
The Eastern Province Rugby Federation Union
All rugby players present here
Veterans and friends
Sports and recreation activists who came to pay their last respect
Comrades and Compatriots
Fellow South Africans
Once again in the hype of the national democratic transformation of sport and recreation in South Africa, and in the building of the national democratic society, the national democratic sport society is called upon to lower its banners to pay homage and last respect to one of our own, Mr Vusumzi Joseph Nakani; a cadre, comrade, a friend, a brother, a father, a husband, uncle and a Grandfather!
On the 4th of January 2012, hardly four days before the birth of the oldest liberation movement on the African Continent, the African National Congress (ANC), our glorious movement. On that lamentable day, Vusumzi Joseph Nakani ceased to breath. The ‘Tower of the South African rugby’ unexpectedly succumbed to bodily ailments after a long soldiering battle against the scavenging illnesses preying on the frailties of the human body.
On this Day Filled with Unbearable heat-waves in the Province of the Eastern Cape became a Stormy Day for sport and recreation in the Republic of South Africa and a dark day for all the sport loving people of the Republic, especially the Nakani Family and Friends.
Sithi kusapho lakwa Nakani, Koo Ndebe;
Thuthuzelekani
akuhlanga lungehlanga!!!
Kunje kwiZizwe Zonke
Le nto yinto yaloonto
Silile kunye nani,
Sithi lalani ngenxeba
Bunjalo Ubomi : Njengokuba watsho UMike Ngxokolo wathi:
Kubamnyama Kuba Mhlophe
Kuyimini bubusuku
Kuzolile yimimoya
Siyalila namhla
Sivuye ngomso
As, the late Vusumzi Joseph Nakani, became breathless; his flesh and blood surrendered to the clairvoyant. A numinous bayonet of icebergs cut through the inner-soul of our sport loving nation.
A colossal gash went through the being of our nation, a pain trenchant the inner-end of our hearts until reaching the pinnacle of the organisation of Rugby in our country and that of our people.
As we pay homage to Cde Nakani in recognition of his immense sacrifice and contribution, we are reminded by his impeccable life story that he remains one of the finest and most seasoned rugby players of our Republic, South Africa.
A disciplined and dedicated sport man, a mentor and coach of note, an astute sport administrator of the 21st Century and an eloquent sports communicator in the age of globalised information and communications technology, an elder in the PCA Tinarha Circuit, a cadre of our movement, the African National Congress. He believed sport instill discipline amongst young people. A Towering Tower!
Ladies and Gentlemen in one of the poems, I’ve read through, in my preparation for Mr Vusumzi Nakani’s Funeral Service, contains a fitting tribute to the Tower of this caliber. It contains some injunctions that capture a number of elements of what constitutes the Fall of this Martyr.The poem is titled: ‘A Tower that cannot Fall’, featured in the website of Yourpoetry.com, by Mr Abraham:
“My spirit is broken.
“Of all the words that settle at the foundation of my heart, those few words are all that I am able to give rise to, that I am able to breathe into; with the power of my own life.
“The moon rises.
The tower falls.
“My spirit is broken - the moon rises. The tower falls.
“Love is a fire that i have not knelt to, to warm my hands by, to gaze intently into, or taken harbor by in the oceanic fields of night.
“I do not know the fervour of its blaze or the intrepidity of its flame.
“How i imagine its flame, a tower that cannot fall.
“I do not know the fulfilment of love, knowing only the unhealthy satiation of desire and its departure.
“The moonrise tide of love falls blind to a dream of the sun, the towers of her hair fall – the towers of her hair in curls across a sea of gold.
“My spirit breaks at the cleft of another dawn.
“My heart is still, quickening no more to the cataractous desires of my youth.
The tower is fallen to dust. The moon is set.”
Of course, there was light from the sun before that moon could set.Bra Vusumzi could be no more today, but, the sun ushered the dawn of the new day when he was born 65 years ago. Lakhaziml’ ikhwezi!!! Yintinga inkonjane yase-sithathwini!!!
From his childhood life, Mr Nakani played and loved rugby.As you all know he is a proudproduct of the Uitenhage’s Swallows Rugby Football Club and a silver bullet of the Eastern Province rugby. He takes his accolades from his clash against Italy in 1973.
His unwavering commitment to a non-racial, non-sexist, united and democratic sport system for all propelled him to become a ‘torch bearer’ of the struggle for a non-racial sport.He became a front runner in the struggle for a democratic and just sport system in our country. It is proceeds of his undying, combatant spirit that ushered a single, non-racial, non-sexist, united and democratic sport system in South Africa.
Yi-Tyumntu as he was affectionately known in the field of play was a well-known hard tackler that tackled hundreds of his opponents against roasted-mud fields of the Eastern Cape many years ago. Even his casualties can be seen in the streets of Uitenhage and the broader Eastern Cape Province and other part of South Africa.
Swallows established in 1922, where Bra Vusumzi hails from, was one of the African Rugby Clubs in the Republic of South Africa that produced some of the unforgettable players for South Africa. These included, among others, the likes of yi-Tyumntu contemporary, Mr Meshack Cushe who was the first South African of any colour to break the defence of the ‘undefeated 1974 British Lions creating a magic Try for Border Wing, Mr Charles Mgweba, and former Eastern Province Captain ‘My Captain’ Mr. Benson Maweni to mention a few legends.
Bra Vusi also shared his rugby triumphs with the likes of Bra Meshack’s elder brother, Mr Morgan ‘Stumbo’ Cushe who became part of the African Springboks while still at the Limekhaya High School in 1965.
He showed his ‘Unbeaten Towering Rugby Techniques’ when he and his loose forward, Mr Henry Kethelo, restored behaviour and discipline from the side of the French Team in their 1975 Tour Clash. It is alleged that they used their sharp and unco-ordinated teeth to bite their opponent, France, in order to instil order, discipline and behaviour; and they succeeded!
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is of pivotal importance to celebrate the life and time of all Swallows players together with the role played by Swallows Rugby Football Club. Swallows has produce a cream of determined and committed Rugby players in the Republic. Swallows and Bra Vusumzi were like the ‘two sides of the same coin’; they brought hope to many young people in the Eastern Cape. Like Bra Vusumzi; Swallows was one of the Clubs that achieved a high standard during the days of Apartheid Colonialism and was able to bridge the transition to unity and able to keep the momentum intact; and even remained a force in the Eastern Province up until this day.
We therefore take this opportunity to lower our flags and pay tribute to this martyr. We dedicate this moment to one of our own, Yi-Tyumntu.
We salute you for your passion and dedication to the game of rugby. We salute you for your lasting spirit to carry up the ‘Burning Flame of Rugby’ till the end. We are, especially, grateful for your courage to uninterruptedly carry this Flame from 1973 to 1977 against all odds; playing the bruising attacking style you’ve adopted as an eight man.
At the backdrop of 1976 student boycott Bra Vusi was arrested in 1977 and spent 5 years in Goedemoed Prison near Free State. After release he became more involved in community work and contributed in strengthening the Mass Democratic movement. It is in this period that he became the farmer of note, and took up the struggles of many farmers Uitenhage.
Imprisonment did not deter his passion for rugby and sport in general; he continued playing with determination and became a mentor to many in the Eastern Cape Region. Ndebe was dynamic and versatile.
We now know that many of your teammates and even your rivals and opponents from around the country still remember you for that. They still remember you as a forward who knew no ‘fear’ and place lots of pressure on his opponents.
However, I would like to declare for everyone to know that owing to his stature and the historical, ground breaking role which Mr Nakani played in the life of the Rugby game in our country, the Ministry of Sport & Recreation South Africa, directed that he be sent off with dignity and the necessary respect he deserves and decorum worthy of a national monument he has truly been for many years. For that reason, a funeral preparatory was formed to oversee the arrangements of this send-off funeral service comprising of representatives from Sport & Recreation stakeholders in South Africa and the local community.
We do this fully conscious of the role we need to play in ensuring the dignity of our sportsmen and women including our sports veterans. Together we need to fight against a fact that most of our sports persons die under conditions of object poverty and this situation is unacceptable, we can’t continue to burry our sports men and women as if they did not contribute into the wellbeing of our society. Really something needs to be done.
A living example is that of soldiers. For an example a soldier who died in a war and in the conduct of war; or a soldier participated in the conduct of war on behalf of his/her country is bestowed an accolade of a warrior with benefits. Why our black sport warriors are to be laid to rest in a manner that does not befit their accolade, especially those who represented this country in international sport battles. This must stop!!! I am stopping this right on its tracks.
I would again like to call on the developmental state and the progressive private sector institutions to provide all our national sport heroes and heroines, especially those who participated in our International Battles with national colours and benefit in the same way as our soldiers who defended the sovereignty of the Republic.We do this because we need to show the same care and passion towards those who made what we are today, the South African nation.
To the family, especially to his wife, Ma Zanyiwe Nokuzola Nakani, I would like to dedicate this poem by Rei Mystique, titled; Loved:
A sweet, sweet boy I never new.
His heart burns, still, with Love so deep and true.
When time goes by;
That man must die.
And understanding of a Love you, can never undo.
Is all that is needed to push right through.
He hides amongst the living.
As he shows hope in what he is giving.
Maybe at some period he will be free.
But, right now we will have to see.
I cannot pretend to understand his pain.
But at least now all my efforts were not in vain.
He will be loved.
May his soul rest in peace!
Lala ngoxolo Sthathu, Chisana, Ndebe, Khopoyi, Nkome Zibomvu Olakho Ugqatso Ulifezile.
Thank you!
