SPRINGBOKS World Cup-winner Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira has narrated his arduous journey from his native Zimbabwe, early frustrations in South Africa, and then surviving everything to land the biggest prize in world rugby.
The Bok legend, who retired from international rugby after playing a key role in South Africa’s 2019 World Cup success, was speaking on a new series of in-depth interviews, The Open Side, produced by the sport’s global governing body.
“Where I grew up, life was pretty tough,” Mtawarira tells the TOS presenter. “I grew up in Harare, and as you know then, the economy was collapsing. There were a lot of bad things going on.
“The land grabbing, people getting kicked off their farms, a lot of commotion in the country.”
The Mtawarira family was not rich, but they did enjoy a fair share of comfort in the Harare middle-class suburb of Hatfield.
Beast, a nickname he was given by his childhood friend, initially attended government schools, Prospect Primary and Churchill High in Harare, before earning a life-changing rugby scholarship at the prestigious private boarding school Peterhouse College in Marondera, a town 72 kilometres east of the Zimbabwean capital.
In 2002, the former Springbok loose-head prop, who had spent most of his schoolboy years in Zimbabwe playing as an eighth-man, was given the biggest breakthrough of his fledgling career when he was offered a place at the academy of South Africa’s Durban-based team, Sharks.
The Harare-born ex-star chronicles his journey to join Sharks, where he supplemented his meagre wage, in the formative days, by working for a nightclub as a bouncer.
“As a young man, you know, I wanted better, I wanted success,” Mtawarira says.
“I wanted to make it in life and my parents did their best to give me the best start in life but they, you know, they really didn’t have much. I remember leaving home with just a backpack, with a few items of clothing, with my boots, R2 000 and a discman, you know, that was it. I boarded that Greyhound bus to Durban with a dream, and I was prepared to die for that dream, to say this is my opportunity to change things, to turn things around, you know, to provide for my family. So I was so ready for it. Just going out there to prove my worth. Those were the little jobs I used to do to get some money to put food on the table. At the time, I didn’t have a contract with the Sharks, so ja, I had to be a bouncer at a nightclub.”
The record-breaking Springbok, whose 117 Test caps is the highest by an ethnic black player for South Africa, admits that his father Felix – who still lives in Harare – was not totally supportive of a professional rugby career for his son.
“It was hard, it was really hard because my dad probably thought I wasn’t going to make it because of where I was coming from,” reveals Mtawarira.
“You know, in his words he said ‘you’re going to face some giants and they will probably crush you’. So, you know, that motivated me. I was like ‘I’m gonna show you’. So all these various battles that upset me, they gave me the full passion and drive to succeed, which I didn’t understand at certain times myself. I knew I was here for a bigger purpose than myself. I knew I was representing so many other people as well, (people) that have walked the same road as mine and I believed there was a bigger thing at play.”
In 2010, Mtawarira thought that his international career had been cut short after just over 20 Springboks caps, when the South African government blocked him from further selection on grounds of his Zimbabwean background and passport.
“That was horrible to experience in the early days of my career, especially after experiencing one of my successful years of my career, 2009, beating the All Blacks three times in a row, winning a British & Lions tour, being a prominent figure in all these achievements,” recalls Mtawarira.
“And then the following year, the minister of Sports deciding to pull me back. I had qualified under IRB (International Rugby Board) laws, the future was looking totally bright. This was something that wasn’t about me. It was bigger, it was bigger than me. It was probably targeting rugby because at that time it (rugby) didn’t probably stand for what the politicians liked. So it was hard, I remembered crying, breaking down in front of my wife, you know we just prayed, that’s what we did, we prayed, we prayed every single day and for the best. Because everything I was hearing was ‘you should stop, go overseas, earn some pounds, some euros, you can’t be treated like this’. Even my own teammates were frustrated, they couldn’t understand. Thankfully God sent Desmond Tutu, he gave me a call I’ll never forgot. It was an amazing phone call to hear from the archbishop himself saying ‘I know you, I support you, I’ve seen what you have done for rugby. I’m such a fan, you’re such a role model for our kids’. You know, that gave me the biggest boost because I was down in the gutters. That just lifted my spirits. That’s when everything turned around, you know, minister (of Home Affairs) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, she then said ‘I’m going to give you a passport’.”
Winning the World Cup completed a hugely success international career for Mtawarira, who had also clinched the Tri-Nations and Rugby Championship trophies with the Boks.
Mtawarira was one of a group of senior players who performed leadership roles at the 2019 World Cup in Japan under the captaincy of the historic skipper Siya Kolisi.
“Watching Siya becoming the first black Springbok captain and later lifting that William Webb Ellis Trophy was coming full circle for me, that’s why I could walk away with a smile, feeling that I’d left Boks in a better place,” says Mtawarira.
Mtawarira (36) also speaks of the surprise call he received from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018, congratulating the revered front-rower on his 100th Test cap milestone.
“We had just finished training and I remember Charles Wessels (SARugby general-manager) saying ‘make sure you answer your call, when you hear your phone ring, answer it’. And then it was like that. I answered the call and the President was on the other side and, you know, it was incredible to just get the acknowledgment from him saying ‘you have done so much for the country, you’re a role model, we’re proud of you, you’re playing in your 100th Test as the first black player to do so,’” Mtawarira says.
— STAFF WRITER.
