ABOUT DAN QEQE

Who Was Dan Qeqe

Biography

Dan Dumile Qeqe was a prominent sports administrator who struggled to establish non-racial sport in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. When the Bantu Administration Board denied him access for black teams to sports grounds, he rallied the community to build his own rugby stadium.

Dan joined Spring Rose Rugby Football Club in the 1950s after leaving Fort Beaufort for Port Elizabeth.

During the 1970s he administered non-racial rugby and cricket in the Eastern Cape and also campaigned for better living conditions.

He was harassed and detained by the Security Branch of the South African Police. After the Bantu Administration Board denied the Kwazakele Rugby Union (Kwaru) access to sports grounds, Qeqe led the fight to build his own stadium.

As a deacon of the Edward Memorial Congregational Church, he also helped to build two churches in Motherwell and KwaMagxaki townships.

Qeqe resigned from membership of the Port Elizabeth Joint Advisory Board, which he came to see as ineffective.

Qeqe remained Spring Rose’s club treasurer up to his death.

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In The Media

Articles

Daily Maverick

The relentless activism of Dan Qeqe, the man who transformed Port Elizabeth

In this excerpt from a people’s history of the Eastern Cape city, Buntu Siwisa captures the struggles and triumphs of a man who insisted on upgrading township schools and ferried anti-apartheid fugitives.

NMU CANRAD Office

The Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD) at Nelson Mandela University provides an intellectual and social space for debate on the complexities of post-apartheid South Africa as we seek to establish a new non-racial and democratic social and economic order. CANRAD is an initiative that meets with urgent regional, national, and global priorities and hopes to become a centre of excellence in critical scholarship on racism, non-racialism and democracy.

As a public institution – and one that derives its very name from the iconic former State President – the University deems itself socially obliged to be pro-active in this endeavour. Nelson Mandela University is a value-driven university working towards optimizing the potential of its internal and external communities for the sustainable development of the African continent. Accordingly, its Vision 2020 is “to be a dynamic African university, recognised for its leadership in generating cutting-edge knowledge for a sustainable future.” Drawing from the iconic former State President Nelson Mandela, the university adopted the values and principles of transformation and equity, respect for diversity, people-centeredness, student access, engagement, excellence, innovation, and integrity.

The historic establishment of political democracy in 1994 brought with it a new reality and hope to forge a society based on equity, non-racialism, and democracy. The Constitution of South Africa contains some of the world’s most progressive ideals and policy directives to restore human dignity and respect for all people, irrespective of ‘race’, class, gender, and nationality.

It proposes the fundamentals for dismantling the iniquitous social and economic relations of the apartheid past. However, South Africa, like many other nations in the world, continues to suffer from the socially constructed expressions of race and ethnic differences. The false idea of racial categorisation, a discontented heritage from colonialism, is proving to be a growing burden on nation states and ordinary people vis-à-vis conflict, violence, and dehumanisation. This questionable condition has also found prominent spaces in discourse, cultural theory, and ideological choices. Hence, a duality has come to exist in the world, where some people engage in celebrating race and identity, while others are attempting to reconstruct the basic humanity of all people.

The reconstruction process, in particular the abstractions of human dignity, respectfulness, and hospitality, cannot be achieved wholly by protocols or policy statements. It requires a process of engagement, which must stand upon people’s episteme and cultural consciousness to both learn and unlearn approaches, attitudes, and behaviours.

Accordingly, a system of deliberate compacts must come to bear over the environment, including the academic environment. We are in contact with Mr Allan Zinn, former director of the department, and Ms Nhlakanipho Mahlangu, research intern and Ms Samantha Booysen. They align perfectly with the educational pillar of the foundation as they strongly advocate for inclusion and non-racism.

Kolisi Foundation

The organisation was founded by Siya & Rachel Kolisi in March 2020, with a vision to change the narrative of inequality for people in vulnerable and under- resourced communities in South Africa.

The Kolisi Foundation board is represented by Siya, and Rachel Kolisi, alongside Mahlatse Mashua, Andrew Muir, Ziyanda Ntshona and Hannah Sadiki (chairperson).

We align perfectly with the Kolisi Foundation as we both look to fight against inequalities for the under resourced and underprivileged. The Kolisi Foundation is busy promoting Siya Kolisis book, Rise and other humanitarian projects. We, as the Foundation, are in contact with Siya Kolisi.

The Kolisi Foundation is currently active in the SIYAPHAKAMA project. This project is named after co-founder Siya Kolisi and his mother, Phakama. ‘Siyaphakama’ means “We Are Rising”. This project seeks to address the multitude of challenges facing township youth by creating a tailor-made programme to address physical education, malnutrition, academic education, life skills and youth employment.

Holistically to help children and youth exit the poverty cycle and become active, positive contributors to society. The project is a collaborative initiative between the Kolisi Foundation, Ubuntu Pathways, United through Sport, and KaziBantu, with a mission to help develop healthy, active, emotionally, and academically stronger children while contributing to the broader development of the Zwide Community and beyond.

Six schools have been identified in Zwide and will be supported on an ongoing basis as the Kolisi Foundation Education and Sports flagship project.

The Kolisi Foundation also hosts a Connect with our current collaboration partners each month. This initiative aims to bring different organisations together in one room to connect, share and engage once a month. As community builders and NPO organisations, we value the power of collaboration. Working together creates the capacity to serve and further empower the communities these organisations operate.

Another project is, The FOM x Kolisi (Zwide Edition) a partnership between Freedom of Movement, Siya Kolisi, Kolisi Foundation and the Millennium Trust. This collection will help fund a sports infrastructure project for the youth in Siya’s hometown of Zwide in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.