Murray Kinsella reports from London
BRYAN HABANA WALKS into the room and South Africa’s media officer announces that the 32-year-old would like to say a few words before answering any questions.
What follows is poignant and puts rugby, and the looming World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, into perspective.
Back home in South Africa last weekend, school teacher, rugby coach and Springbok fanatic Zukisa Kela and his friend were brutally tied up and thrown into a lake by a 12-man gang in Johannesburg. Both men drowned.
The same vicious incident saw Kela’s fiancée and another couple attacked, with one of the women reportedly raped.
The Boks’ World Cup squad heard about the murders with sadness last night in their base in Guildford on the outskirts of London, and Habana wanted to address the issue this morning.
Kela’s last words to the principal of Westbury School, where he was a teacher in social sciences, were ‘Viva maBokoboko viva,’ which translates as ‘Long live the Springboks, long live’. Habana and his teammates have been deeply affected.
On behalf of the Springboks and South African rugby, Zukisa Kela and his family, with the tragedy that happened over in South Africa – our thoughts and prayers are with you,” said Habana.
“To be able to see the support and passion he had for the Springboks makes the reason we play this game and the reason we play for South Africa and out country so much more special.
“To his family, friends, the school where he taught, we think of you, you’re in our prayers and hopefully we can continue doing our country proud. Hopefully by continuing to do what we’re doing on Saturday, we can bring a country together, we can unite a country and make sure that whatever happens back home, people have some form of hope.
“We’re thinking of everyone back home and we’re going to go out on Saturday and hopefully can instil some pride back in that jersey,” continued Habana.
“That passion and pride that Zukisa showed for South Africa on his last moment was pretty special, so for those that don’t know it’s an incident that happened in South Africa and something that we as a team are really sorry to hear about.”
The intention this morning had been to look towards the Boks’ World Cup semi-final against New Zealand this weekend, and while Habana and his teammates certainly haven’t taken their eye off that clash, it has been put in perspective.
The Toulon wing – who sits level with Jonah Lomu as the all-time top World Cup try scorer with 15 – underlined the importance of the Springboks in bringing South Africa together as a nation.
With incidents like this shocking murder of Kela remaining far too common, Habana feels that rugby can be a unifying force. He called on the spirit of 1995 in stressing that rugby has a major role to play.
“I think for a lot of us, and especially coming from South Africa where rugby is such a passionate sport and a sport that has done so much for our country, being able to have the privilege and honour of wearing that jersey sometimes overclouds the perspective of life,” said Habana.
“Losing a quarter-final, a semi-final, even a final of a World Cup is never ideal and it’s definitely not something that’s in the back of our minds, but the loss of life is not something you can put a value on.
“We all understand the responsibility we have as Springboks, when we get the opportunity to wear the jersey for a country that is very unique, a country where things get done a lot differently.
Rugby has been really fortunate to give our country back so much, to have united the country like no other, and inspired and given hope like never before. That iconic moment of the late Nelson Mandela giving Francois Pienaar that trophy back in ’95 was a watershed moment not only for myself and a lot of players, but for our country.
“Life does sometimes get put in perspective really sharply and for us, it’s about understanding the privilege of waking up, being able to see, walk, use both hands, but when a tragedy like that happens, you really appreciate life so much more.
“Going out there on Saturday, we’d love to inspire, give back and love to hopefully unite a nation that so dearly needs it at the moment.”
