Friends honour rugby stalwart

WHEN former rugby teammates and mineworkers visited Nkosiyabo Buwa’s home in May, they decided to club together and honour the Alice rugby stalwart by buying a tombstone for him.

As a result, the former Vaal Reefs Complex (VRC) rugby players will unveil the tombstone tomorrow in Newtown in Alice.

Former Springbok and VRC player Doli Ntaka said they were honouring their teammate and colleague whom they worked with in the Reef mines and battled alongside in many rugby fields.

“We met this extraordinary guy at the mines. We have shared many good memories with Buwa and we don’t want his memory to fade away just because his family can’t afford a tombstone because its not only his family that misses him – we do too.

“We saw that we could help and show our appreciation to the family for lending us this great man who had so much talent. “Our friend was a great man,” Ntaka said. He said when his group arrived at the mines, the clubs that they played for with Buwa were struggling in the championship tournaments.

“For instance, the Anglo American Rugby Tournament, where all sporting codes had a weekend to compete.

“Our teams kept failing to reach the final stages and the Free State teams were doing quite well.

“But in 1980 we decided to combine the three teams [Mighty Green, White Lillies and Western Leopards].”

Ntaka said that was when the Vaal Reefs Complex team was born and would prove to be the start of greater things as it was made up of players from across the country.

After the unveiling, the former rugby players will then converge at University of Fort Hare at the Raymond Mhlaba Heritage Rugby Tournament. —