THE ROAD TO “GREAT” IS PAVED WITH STONES Having witnessed SA’s most historic sporting moments, Songezo Nayo is the ideal person to comment on UWC’s ascendence into the big leagues By Lyndon Julius
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t’s no mean feat following in the footsteps of great leaders like Professor Julian Smith, who held top management positions not only at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Stellenbosch University but also as the longestserving president of the Western Province Rugby Football Union since unification took place in 1992, Tobias “Oom Tobie” Titus, and Dr Danny Jordaan, the president of the South African
Football Association (SAFA) and a former lecturer, politician and anti-apartheid activist. Yet, the former managing director of SA Rugby, Songezo Nayo, joins these elite figures as former UWC alumni that held and continue to hold strong leadership positions both within SA and on an international level. Having started at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Nayo soon found himself at
the heart of the country’s most significant sporting era when the unification talks got underway and the nation was on the verge of becoming a democracy. He cut his teeth at UWC during this time, says Nayo, while holding various positions within the Sports Administration department and leadership offices. But it was his close relationship with his peers and mentors that led Nayo to the pinnacle of an imperative and very important moment in South African sports. He recalls the unequivocal influence of the legendary Prof Jakes Gerwel on his thinking and how, later, this relationship would help facilitate and develop his leadership style and abilities. Prof Gerwel’s involvement at one of the defining moments in sports history — the unification talks held in Kimberley in 1992 — helped usher in a new era. “The late Prof Jakes Gerwel undoubtedly had the biggest impact on me and where I ended up,” he recalls proudly. “Many people may not be aware but Prof Gerwel played a big role in the achievement of unity within the university sports movement. “When talks fell apart between the SA Universities (representing
