Much-loved activist Yusuf Lorgat dies
Much-loved activist was ‘first-class human being’
PROMINENT Port Elizabeth sports administrator and social and political activist Yusuf Lorgat has died, at the age of 79. A quiet, highly principled man and “father to all”, beloved equally by his family and his community, Lorgat succumbed to a heart condition and died in Mercantile Hospital on Sunday.
He was honoured for his involvement in national and provincial soccer and cricket and hailed as The Herald Citizen of the Year in 2012 for his community outreach efforts, which included running 54 soup kitchens in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Just two weeks ago, he received the metro’s Living Legend Award.
Yesterday, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said Lorgat had been an administrator for 30 years with the Eastern Province Cricket Association, the South African Cricket Board, the United Cricket Board of South Africa, the Eastern Province Council on Sport and the National Sports Council (NSC).
“Among his many acknowledgments, he was honoured by the NSC in 1998, he received a service award from the International Cricket Council in 2009 and was also a life member of Eastern Province Cricket,” CSA president Chris Nenzani said.
Former South African test cricketer and administrator Dr Ali Bacher said: “Yusuf was a firstclass human being, honourable and fair, and played a major role in the unification of cricket in the early 1990s.”
One of Lorgat’s five siblings is CSA chief executive Haroon.
EP Cricket, meanwhile, said Lorgat would be remembered for his wisdom and unfailing love of the game. EP Cricket president Donovan May called him a true gentleman in all respects.
Besides the soup kitchens which Lorgat ran through the Al Fidaa Trust, he also served as a project manager for the Microprojects Programme Trust which assists community organisations with various projects on a technical and social level.
Veteran soccer journalist and administrator and community activist Mogan Segadavan said he had worked with Lorgat at the old PE South Football Association and at the EP Soccer Board.
Lorgat helped found the amalgamated EP Football Union and was its first match secretary.
Three years ago, he took up the position of vice-chairman under Segadavan at the Malabar Old Age Home.
“He was passionate about sport and hard-working but never in the forefront, always just working quietly and efficiently in the background,” Segadavan said.
“He had strong political views and in the old apartheid days he was one of the activists taken to the Sanlam Building for interrogation.”
Lorgat’s son, Imtiaz, said his father was a person who cared for others.
“He got on and did things without concern for recognition.
“He never wanted to be in the limelight but he always said things when they needed to be said,” Imtiaz said.
“His family was very important to him. He was a father to my brother and sister and myself but also, in a sense, a father to many because of the support he was always willing to give to others.”
Lorgat was buried after a service on Sunday night at the Fuqarah Masjid mosque across the road from his home in Sealago Crescent in Malabar.
He leaves his wife of 58 years Rokeya, his sons Imtiaz and Mohamed Shafi, daughter Fatima, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.