Regarding the danger he perceives on a calm morning in Cape Town, Cheslin Kolbe remarks, As I sit here, something is certainly occurring out there which is the same as the mental image I had from growing up.
Before the Springbok wing earned the first of his two World Cup winner’s medals in 2019, Kolbe recounts the horrific murder of a boyhood buddy, who also had his tongue amputated. Kolbe witnessed people being shot and stabbed on the Cape Flats as a young lad.
These days, Kolbe is among the richest and best rugby players in the world. The 30-year-old is in the mood to reflect on his incredible journey from poverty and gangland violence and to explain how rugby has the power to bring hope in a brutalized country while taking a holiday back home before heading back to Japan to resume playing for Tokyo Sungoliath.
However, Kolbe acknowledges that it is difficult to shake the eerie memories: That’s the tragic part. Although it can make you more modest, the image becomes stuck in your thoughts. It can transport you back to your starting point and the steps you took to get over obstacles in your life. I am aware that compared to many people in my town and throughout South Africa, I am currently far more privileged.
Kolbe emphasizes that he also has a lot of wonderful memories, such as the wild welcome the Springboks had when they showed the World Cup trophy they had just won back to happy black and white South Africans upon their return from France last year.
2019 was incredible, but it’s not even close to 2018, he remarks. We witnessed incredible moments where everyone’s grins, regardless of age, demonstrated how much rugby cheers people up in South Africa. Having that effect and those memories will last a lifetime for us as players.
Since it only occurs once every four years, it is our duty to make use of our platform to spread inspiration and optimism on a daily basis.
Kolbe’s past, which was dominated by gang warfare, drugs, and violence, is what motivates him to aid people in often hopeless situations. Funny or terrible, you would travel to Scottsville, where my grandma resided, if you wanted to witness action back in the Cape Flats. When you were younger, you wanted to experience something unusual in life since something would always happen and you would be delighted by people fighting and becoming wasted.
Kolbe described the neighborhood as a true ghetto, yet one Friday after school, he went there with buddies who later joined a gang. That’s when everything changed for Kolbe.
Since these are the friends I grew up with, we still get along well. However, this man pulled out a gun and started shooting when they got into a fight. I dashed to my grandmother’s house in the exact opposite direction. I trembled, couldn’t speak, and was crying.
“The enormous gangsterism, the sale of narcotics, people getting slashed and killed, Kolbe shakes his head. That was the standard. I went to visit my grandmother one more, when two guys stopped me 100 meters from her house. They remained silent. They removed a knife and pressed it up on my ribcage, barely touching the chain I was wearing. I raced to my grandma as soon as I handed it to him. You can’t compete against guys who are incarcerated, and I was twelve.
Kolbe was eventually given the opportunity to accept a rugby scholarship because of his exceptional speed and athletic ability. He claims, Sport was my escape.Even though I’m from Kraaifontein, playing street touch rugby barefoot gives me hope. However, I never would have left if it weren’t for my parents’ enormous sacrifices or for sports.
Kolbe’s pals did not all manage to flee. Wayne was one of my best friends, and we spent every day together growing up. He was one of the most gifted athletes I have ever seen in rugby, athletics, and cricket. He was also maybe the quietest person I have ever seen. However, he did not share my family’s steadiness.
Gangsters would approach him and offer you a T-shirt, some shoes, and some cash so you could support your family. They give you self-confidence, but you don’t realize that you have to give them something in exchange. Small activities like dropping off and selling narcotics were the beginning, but eventually you fall into debt to them and have to rob people in order to pay them back.
We saw with great sadness as he went from selling drugs to abusing them, from being a big dog in gang warfare to facing threats. Because he was in and out of prison, I usually checked in with his family whenever I was back in South Africa to see how he was doing.
When South Africa was ready to win the World Cup in 2019, Kolbe received the devastating news about Wayne. “He was tortured by having all of his fingers, toes, ears, tongue, and other appendages amputated in front of a large gathering of people in an open field. When I learned that he had been killed by some gang members, I was still in France. We’d been so close as children, so it was very upsetting.
