{"id":840159,"date":"2026-08-02T16:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T16:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840159\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T16:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T16:42:09","slug":"mec-ngongo-urges-border-to-have-rugby-league-in-honour-of-late-prop-makwedini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840159\/","title":{"rendered":"MEC Ngongo urges Border to have rugby league in honour of late prop Makwedini"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eastern Cape sports MEC Sibulele Ngongo has pleaded with Border Rugby for the union to establish a rugby league in honour of late former SA schools prop Luqobo \u201cBibo\u201d Makwedini.<\/a><\/p>\n

Border have since made a promise to follow the MEC\u2018s plea. <\/p>\n

Makwedini died aged 20 last month after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest during a training session with French Pro D2 club B\u00e9ziers at the Stade de la Gayonne.<\/p>\n

His funeral service was attended by scores of people from across the country at the Komga Sports field in his hometown of Qumrha near KuGompo City on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to have a league here named after Bibo to make sure that his legacy continues,\u201d Ngongo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Bibo did to come from Qumrha and play in France is something incredible that must not be forgotten because he beat all the odds to be where he found himself and should be used as inspiration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Border top brass, which included executive member Theo Mvalo among others, were in attendance.<\/p>\n

New president Mvalo, who was voted into the position on Sunday morning, told the Dispatch that Border Rugby are going to start a new tournament for U21s in the region, and it could likely be named after Makwedini. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason behind it is that Makwedini was 20 years old, and it\u2019s fitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did speak with the managing director, and as the new executive, we will have more discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makwedini <\/a>was a product of Komga Primary School, where his promise as a young player earned him a full scholarship for high school.<\/p>\n

He attended Durban Boys\u2019 High before moving to Wynberg High in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

He represented SA U18 in 2023 after a good Craven Week campaign with Western Province.<\/p>\n

He had signed a three-year contract with B\u00e9ziers in December and was expected to make his senior debut in the upcoming Pro D2 campaign,<\/p>\n

His aunt Thandiwe revealed that before his death, Bibo had a vision of donning the green and gold colours again, but this time for the Springboks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a dreamer. He didn\u2019t have a small mentality; he was focused. He had a vision to play for the Springboks at the 2031 World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bibo came from a sporting family, starting with great grandfather, according to Thandiwe.<\/p>\n

He was introduced to rugby by his father, Mawethu Makwedini, in a \u201cvery rough manner\u201d with a vision for Bibo to be a great rugby player. <\/p>\n

Mawethu played for the Border Bulldogs. <\/p>\n

\u201cBibo made rugby easy and played with less effort. His father once sent me a few videos of him playing in the Grant Khomo [U16 youth tournament] in Kimberley; that is where I noticed his potential because he was bulldozing over the other kids,\u201d Thandiwe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew no matter what he was going to make it to the Springboks one day and be the next Siya Kolisi. He made the SA Schools but couldn\u2019t fulfil his initial dream.\u201d <\/p>\n

Click here to join the Daily Dispatch\u2019s WhatsApp channel and get the latest news delivered straight to your phone.<\/a><\/p>\n

Daily Dispatch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eastern Cape sports MEC Sibulele Ngongo has pleaded with Border Rugby for the union to establish a rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,412741,412739,412747,194003,412740,412738,412744,760,412743,412746,412745,412742,85,412736,412737],"class_list":["post-840159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beziers-rugby","tag-beziers-rugby-club","tag-border-rugby-union","tag-eastern-cape-rugby","tag-french-pro-d2-rugby","tag-makwedini-funeral","tag-mec-sibulele-ngongo","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-cardiac-arrest","tag-sa-schools-prop","tag-south-africa-rugby-news","tag-south-african-rugby-news","tag-sports","tag-springboks-future-stars","tag-stade-de-la-gayonne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}