Veteran Struggle icon Dr Andrew Mlangeni was this week transported back decades to the day when‚ while doing manual work as a political prisoner at Robben Island‚ he found three golf balls hidden among the overgrown grass that encircled the infamous prison.
Mlangeni‚ who was imprisoned alongside former president Nelson Mandela‚ spent 26 years and four months in the desolate prison‚ but the golf balls he found hidden away there that day many moons ago were a symbol of hope for him.
“Nobody ever dreamt that one day we’d play the SA Open pro-am in Soweto‚ and on a golf course belonging to the people of Soweto. When I saw this‚ I said to myself there is nothing we cannot do if we all have a common goal‚” said Mlangeni‚ echoing the words of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi after the Rugby World Cup victory.
“I worried about how I was going to get them into my cell because they would search us‚ and I needed those golf balls to remind me of the game. I couldn’t understand where the balls came from because the grass was so tall. Mlangeni was there for that first conversation with Sunshine Tour commissioner Selwyn Nathan‚ who outlined his vision to the oldest surviving member of the Soweto Country Club to give the people of Soweto a golf course they can be proud of and which is good enough to host a major tournament.
And it’s given him renewed hope that at the age of 94 and still recovering from several serious health setbacks‚ he will again play golf on these fairways.
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