📍Zwide, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape, South Africa
1991 – 2003“Siya Kolisi was born in June 1991 in Zwide, a township on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha, in South Africa's Eastern Cape. His mother, Phakama, was a teenager when he was born, and his father, Fezakele, worked away, so he was raised by his grandmother, Nolulamile, in a crowded four-room house shared with an aunt and uncle and often six or seven people. He slept on the floor, using sofa cushions as a bed. Hunger was a constant presence; he has written that it is hard to explain hunger to people who have never experienced it, and that sometimes the only food he had was the jam sandwich given out at school. His grandmother was the person who loved him unconditionally, and she died when he was about twelve; his mother died a few years later. He has spoken openly about falling in with older boys and about how rugby kept him from trouble. He played junior rugby in Zwide, first with the local African Bombers club, finding there a sense of belonging and family. At twelve he impressed scouts at a youth tournament in Mossel Bay and was offered a scholarship to Grey Junior and then Grey High School in Port Elizabeth, a famous rugby school. There he learned English, worked hard and grew into a powerful flanker. In 2018 he became the first Black captain of the Springboks, and he led South Africa to Rugby World Cup victories in 2019 and 2023. He has written about Zwide in his memoir, Rise, and his foundation works to help children in townships like the one he grew up in.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today