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OBITUARY: Mvuzo Mbebe through my eyes

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Mvuzo Mbebe (Gallo Images)
Mvuzo Mbebe (Gallo Images)

My first contact with Mvuzo Martin Mbebe was at one of the debates held in Cape Town in the run-up to the formation of the National Sports Congress (NSC) in 1988. You could not miss him in the group of student activists because of his vociferous and energetic manner of debating issues. He had an infectious, bubbly and likeable personality.

He was part of a group including Songezo Nayo that quickly grasped the vision of the organisation and readily got involved. Associating with the ANC worked in our favour and benefited our recruitment campaign, particularly in the Western Cape.

Once the NSC was established with its own student wing, we adopted an aggressive approach to our work.

Part of this approach involved “deploying” some of our bright stars to the various sports bodies with a view to strengthening them. Mvuzo, a trained pharmacist, for example, was deployed as the general secretary of Athletics SA, while Moss Mashishi, a law graduate, was allocated to Tennis SA. Thankfully, we realised positive results from this.

Despite some initial turbulence, Mvuzo’s tenure within athletics went remarkably well.

I was later to swap my role as executive director of the NSC with the role of director-general at the national department of sport and recreation.

As a replacement for me at the NSC, we could not find any candidate better than Mvuzo. Mvuzo was not happy with being “executive director” and managed to change his job title to “chief executive officer”. I once heard him say he was not the second executive director but the first CEO of the organisation!

No sooner was he in the role, than he made his mark. Out went some of the programmes I had developed and in came new ones. My conservative, spendthrift style of management was seen as not in keeping with the stature of the organisation.

Our roles, however, started to complement one another, as he was able to extract a concession from the then SA Rugby Football Union to get a share of the royalties derived from the usage of the “new” emblem we had earlier agreed on with Dr Louis Luyt.

Mvuzo was not one who allowed tradition to stand in his way – when no word existed in English to capture what he wanted to convey, he created it!

He was brave, and would take on tasks outside his personal education and training. For example, when he was part of the local organising committee (LOC) of the 1999 All Africa Games, he took on portfolios no one wanted, such as catering, transport and facilities. Such roles meant dealing with technical people, but the experts were happy to take instructions from him. I am told he did the same when he joined the SABC.

Mvuzo showed us he was a skilled negotiator. As part of the SABC management team, he crafted deals about which Irvin Khoza, representing football, said they were “happy, but not happy”.

He did not care much about money and, given the choice between power and money, I am sure he would have chosen power. He turned down a few cash “contributions” from sports people who sought to buy his influence and reminded me of Luyt with his insistence to clarify who exactly was in charge or who reported to whom in relationships.

He had a soft spot for certain people and a deep connection with my former boss, the now late former sports minister Steve Tshwete. The minister, in turn, would use every excuse to deal with Mvuzo and avoid me.

Mvuzo helped produce several young sports leaders, such as Qondisa Ngwenya, now at Octagon, and many others, who now enjoy lucrative careers in sport. Many of his protégés went on to earn more money than him.

He had a magic that made everyone who worked with him grow fond of him, irrespective of whether they were his juniors or executive colleagues.

After leaving the SABC, he took on the unenviable task of managing the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2013 and African Nations Championship 2014 LOCs in his capacity as CEO of both of them.

He is also said to have handled both events (successfully) on a shoestring budget.

Mvuzo was a loving husband to his wife, Nomalungelo, and leaves behind two adoring children, Ntsika and Avuziwe. He also spoke often about his mum, Thenjiwe, and his siblings, Andile and Mona Lisa.

Already battling diabetes, he met his greatest challenge when having to deal with colon cancer.

Before he succumbed on Tuesday at the age of 52, he gave it a good fight. I have no doubt Mvuzo lived the life he wanted to, unlike those of us who fit into the life that has been defined for us.

I will always remember Mfanandini, as I used to call him, at his best.

Tyamzashe is Safa’s chief operating officer

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