Celebrating 180 years of serving the community

The Herald

05-05-2025

The Herald Citizen of the Year adjudicator and Kolisi Foundation acting chief executive Andrew Muir said the newspaper's award programme had been running for nearly 33 years and played a pivotal role in honouring citizens from the province.
He thanked everyone who made pledges on behalf of the Kolisi Foundation.
'The media is often referred to as the fourth estate, particularly in its role as a watchdog, holding power accountable and informing the public.
'At 180, I think we can all agree The Herald has lived up.'
On stage, Kolisi enjoyed a conversation with his rugby mentor, Eric Songwiqi, and the first black Springbok team manager, Zola Yeye.
The audience was in stitches as Kolisi shared personal, little-known stories about the challenges he faced adapting to a new life after receiving a scholarship to Grey Junior at the age of 12.
'One of the things that I love about growing up in the location is that we learnt to adapt, to have fun, because you can have fun without having money.
'I could not afford toys, I drove a brick as my car.
'We played soccer by wrapping plastic bags, as many as you could, together. We would play cricket, and when a window broke, we would all run.
'Tata Eric took me to my first tournament that changed my life.
'I wore boxers because I could not afford shorts.
'He said if you played badly, they would at least remember you for the boxers,' he said.
'At Emsengeni Primary School, I was in the top three.
'But at Grey, I struggled. A lot of people think that if you give a child a bursary, you give them an opportunity.
'Remember, you are taking me out of my culture and comfort zone, there is nothing to help you, it is just you and you alone.
'Some children do not make it through that.
'At breaktime, I would run away from all the white guys, because they wanted to talk and I could not talk back.
'It was painful, I felt stupid, I was failing, I was getting pushed through, and during Afrikaans I was taken to learn English like a child learning it for the first time.'