INSIGHT: Many hats of a lifelong champion of the poor

Our late brother was the sixth of the seven sons born to the now late Simon and Mirriam Tozana Stofile. Mike was born on January 29 1958 in Addo on what was then Mr Lawrence’s farm (kwa Ngindoyi).

Our parents were at this time on their way back from Port Elizabeth after failing to qualify for section 10 rights of the then Bantu Authorities Act of the apartheid regime.

Mike was born with a very light skin that earned him the nickname Matebese.

A real person by that name was a railway bus driver in Adelaide where our family originally came from. He was of European origin which is why he could be a bus driver in those days.

Mike grew up in Adelaide and eNgqele, Middledrift, where our parents settled after being shunted from farm to farm like all farm labourers were at the time and still are today.

He attended the local eNgqele primary school. His secondary school studies were at Ntaba Kandoda School, eNgcamngeni/Debe Nek. For high school he went to Jabavn High School, Alice.

Like all the other Stofile brothers, Mike played rugby for the school teams as well as for the local Red Lion RFC for which he later became an official.

He also played for the Victonia East provincial side under the auspices of the then non-racial SA Rugby Union.

Again he grew to be an official of the Victonia East Rugby Union, and subsequently president of the Border Rugby Union and vice president of the new South African Rugby Union (formerly Sarfu).

Everybody knows that the struggle for building a truly non-racial rugby union in South Africa is far from over. And so it was natural for our brother to become a vocal and an active leader for equity and equal opportunities for all in sport in general and rugby in particular.

Many South Africans know this – players, officials and ordinary citizens.

We cannot say he received the support he deserved, even from those who stood to benefit from his efforts.

He was a champion of the rural areas and poor areas and made us proud. But the legacy of apartheid was and still is too strong in rugby and victims continue to keep quiet about it until they retire.

Some of his erstwhile comrades even turned against him as access to resources became more attractive than principles.

As a political activist Mike was never high-profile, but he was always there when needed. For him this journey started when young people of his age were organised at Ngqele by a loving and courageous lady teacher, the late Nomalizo Limba. Under her tutelage and influences from the rise of the quest for freedom, young people such as Mike formed the Ngqele Youth Cultural Organisation. From these humble beginnings political activists such as Mbona Morgan Limba and our younger brothers were born.

“Rhee” as Mike had become known to his friends, never looked back. He served in local structures of the United Democratic Front (UDF).

It is common knowledge

that in 1986 he was arrested at a police road block in Alice travelling with an armed MK cadre, Mzwakhe Ndlela.

The rest is history. He was sentenced to eight years’ incarceration for “subversive” and “terrorist” activities. But the revolution was well oiled by then. Neither Mike nor any of his co-accused served their full terms in prison.

Whilst in prison he volunteered as a teacher for lesser educated inmates. He also served in the structures inmates at D2 Section had set up for their political education/discussions and recreation.

With another inmate, Msokoli Mgubasi, Mike also excelled in playing guitars. This kept the hours and days passing.

Prior to his imprisonment Mike had worked for the University of Fort Hare’s Agricultural and Rural Development Research Institute attached to the faculty of agriculture led by Professor Graven.

After Mike’s prison term ended he was again employed by the University of Fort Hare as a manager in its gardens and grounds section.

Later he started his own businesses which kept him going until his last days on earth. He remained faithful to the ANC and the struggle for freedom.

He was not an angel. There may be many who feel aggrieved by his robust ways in dealing with them.

But many more will remember his friendly ways and his shrill laughter. The ANC will remember him for his courage as a freedom fighter.

At home we will remember him as a baby brother, the second last son of our parents, one who made us both happy and sad, like all humans do. We miss him already.

He leaves behind many children and two grand-children that we know of. “Be fruitful and multiply”, he believed.

Ndlela-NtleThahla/ Nyawuza, Hlamba Ngobubende. Hamba Kahle Mkhewe.

• Makhenkesi Stofile is South Africa’s ambassador to Germany from where he wrote this tribute. He is a former Eastern Cape premier, academic and rugby figure