Springbok twins bring much-needed sustenance to villagers back home

Retired Eastern Cape-born Springbok rugby twins Akona and Odwa Ndungane have bought food for 65 families in their home village of Gxulu in Libode.

The twins decided to intervene after hearing that some villagers were going to bed on empty stomachs during the national lockdown.

Through their Ndungane Twins Foundation and working in partnership with SA bookmaker Hollywoodbets, the brothers delivered the groceries on Monday.

The food was distributed by their widowed mother Sheila Ndungane, 62.

Odwa, who chairs the foundation, said: “We decided to share what we have with those  who are more needy and vulnerable than us. We wondered how they were coping with this situation, where it is difficult to find even odd jobs. We are proud of this community and we always cry with them when things are bad and laugh and rejoice with them when things are good. They are part of our extended family.”

Sheila said the twins were the children of Gxulu village, and for them “charity begins at home”.

“These men and women (of the village) are fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters to my twins. They know that some residents need help more than others and the Covid-19 lockdown has made the situation worse,” Sheila said.

One of the beneficiaries, Nobuntu Nongqika, 59, is single mother of three and unemployed. She had been doing odd jobs to survive, but these have dried up.

“Since the lockdown and the outbreak of the pandemic, I go to bed with an empty stomach,” she said.

Mlungiseleli Bathini, 48, an unemployed widower and father of seven young children,  and Ayakha Nonkwali, 20, whose parents  died when she was only four years old, were overwhelmed by the twins’ gesture.

'''I don’t know how to thank the Ndungane twins and their mother, except to say may God  bless them. Many families will now have something to eat and every time we eat we will put them in our prayers,” Nonkwali said.

''I thank God for sending us these twins,” Bathini said.     

The foundation had been working with Hollywoodbets to create hope and opportunities for young South Africans from disadvantaged communities.

The twins’ late father, Zingisa Ndungane, played utility back for the Wallabies Rugby Club from the 1970s until he hung up his boots in 1995.

He died in March 2014. At the time of his death, he was vice-president of the now 67-year old club, the first rugby club founded in the then Transkei.

Since retiring from rugby, Akona  in 2015 and Odwa  in 2017, the brothers have been coaching youngsters to play the game as their way of giving back to the game.