Tributes to former minister Stofile

952 Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile attends the ANC lekgotla held at the Presidential guest house in Tshwane. 220108. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

952 Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile attends the ANC lekgotla held at the Presidential guest house in Tshwane. 220108. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Aug 16, 2016

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SA Rugby on Monday said it was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of former Struggle stalwart and South African minister of sport and recreation, Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile. He was 71.

Stofile was an accomplished scrumhalf at Newell High School in Port Elizabeth and captained the University of Fort Hare first XV at both scrumhalf and wing in his playing days. In 1969 and 1970, he played for Border in inter-provincial tournaments as a hooker. He also coached junior and club rugby.

Stofile was also a leading administrator and served as a provincial and national sports administrator for more than 20 years, serving rugby as a member of the Victoria East Rugby Union, the South Eastern Districts Rugby Union, and the pre-rugby unity South African Rugby Union.

He studied theology and in 1975, was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church of South Africa.

In 1981, he visited New Zealand on behalf of the Anti-Tours Coalition and again in 1985, where he led a successful campaign against a planned All Black tour of South Africa that year. His efforts caused him to be detained for four months on his return home and in 1986, he was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for “terrorism”.

He was released in a “gesture of goodwill” after serving three years.

He became minister of sport and recreation in 2004, a position he held until 2010.

“I would like to pass on the condolences of the South African rugby community to the family and friends of Reverend Stofile,” said Oregan Hoskins, president of SA Rugby.

“He made an invaluable contribution to the Struggle through his work in the sporting arena and was a real rugby man. We have lost another hero of the Struggle.”

Stofile was a South African ambassador before he became the chancellor of Fort Hare University earlier this year. He died following an illness, the ANC said.

“The ANC owes an indelible debt of gratitude to Stofile, former treasurer general of the ANC, minister of sports and recreation and South African ambassador to Germany for his sterling role in politics and sports in both the liberation movement and South Africa at large,” ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said.

Kodwa recalled that Stofile joined the ANC in 1958, while still a teenager, and in the 1980s served as regional secretary for the United Democratic Movement.

After the advent of democracy in 1994, he became the ANC’s chief whip and, two years later, the provincial chairman of the ANC in the Eastern Cape until appointed as minister of sport in 2004.

President Jacob Zuma paid tribute to Stofile’s role in the Struggle and said he would be remembered in particular for his resolute opposition to racism in sport.

ANA

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