President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a Special Provincial Official Funeral Category Two for the late African National Congress (ANC) veteran and rugby administrator Mr Wilson who passed on recently at the age of 93 after a long illness. He was laid to rest at Weis Memorial Congregation Church in Gqeberha. Premier Mabuyane on behalf of the people of the Eastern Cape and Provincial Government conveyed his condolences to the Wilson family, the ANC and sport fraternity. Mr Wilson is remembered for the pivotal role he played in the transformation of rugby as a non-racial sport and has served on the board of the first racially integrated South African Rugby Football Union. He was an anti-apartheid activist who was detained without trial, but never wavered in his commitment to the struggle. He was a sport fanatic who understood the link between politics and sport, and how sport could be used as a platform and means for community development, social justice, economic progress and political change. He was the Eastern Province Rugby Union vice-president between 1982 and 1983, and later became its president. He was born on August 2, 1929 in the Free State, and later his family moved to Stuart Township in Port Elizabeth. Mr Wilson matriculated at the Paterson High School in 1947 and obtained a Teaching Diploma at Hewat College in Cape Town. He returned home to Port Elizabeth to begin his teaching career.
