Tonderai Chavhanga : Seizing Opportunity (1)

Tonderai Chavhanga is a Zimbabwean rugby player and businessman based in Cape Town. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tonderai’s passion for sports was ignited at a very young age. In fact he was granted a scholarship to play for the Prince Edward Tigers and was the youngest person to play for the team. His talents led him to playing for South Africa’s Springboks rugby team. Aside from being known as one of the fastest rugby players of his era, he is also a man of faith, dedicated husband and father of two children. 

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Vongai : Welcome to another episode of ZimExcellence.  Today, my guest was born in Zimbabwe and is a former player for the Springboks rugby team. In his youth, he was granted a scholarship to play for the Prince Edward Tigers, and made history for being the youngest person to play for the team. Aside from being known as one of the fastest rugby players of his era, he is also a man of faith, dedicated husband and father now living in Cape Town, South Africa with his wife and two children. Please welcome Tonderai Chavhanga!

Tonderai : Hey, guys, how you doing? Vongai thank you so much for having me on your show. I'm really looking forward to having some interesting conversations with you. And, yeah, let's get it poppin. 

Vongai : Sweet stuff. Okay, so we have to get this out there before I forget. We have two awesome things in common that I feel is important for the people to know. So first things first, we are both Capricorns. I discovered. And we are both Christmas babies.

Tonderai: Oh, is that? Okay? Yeah. When is your birthday?

Vongai: My birthday is the 27th of December.

Tonderai: Close enough. 24. I'm 24. So,yeah 

Vongai : And you know what that means, right? The  animal or like the symbol for a Capricorn is the goat. So we are both the greatest of all time, so I just needed the listeners to know that.

Tonderai : I actually didn't know what the symbol for Capricorn is. Once upon a time, I actually did use to follow horoscopes then I was just like, Nah, not for me. But we I mean, I think being born in December is. I found it not to be a particularly advantageous. My birthday is always been I mean, I don't I don't remember big on on birthdays and all that kind of stuff, I suppose is because when it was time for my birthday, people were getting prepared for Christmas. I was just like, oh, by the way, it's his birthday.

Vongai : Yeah, I know that story very well. The second thing I also want to get out there is you're from the same province slash hometown. Province, let's say, same province as my dad. So we're literally family. Basically. My dad's question goes, Well. we family.

Tonderai: Masvingo makes the best people.

Vongai : Yeah, so I'm learning. Alright. So before we get into the juicy details about your incredible career, I'd love for you to take us back in time, because you are a Zim excellent superhero. And as you know, every superhero has their origin story. So I'd love for you to share a bit of your origin story. So that you can kind of help us understand how you got from point A in Zimbabwe to point B like where you are now. 

Tonderai: Firstly, I'm not sure I'm not so sure how much juicy stuff you're gonna get out of me. I think I live a very bland type of life. I'm not I'm not I'm not particularly adventurous and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, I mean

Vongai : Don’t judge yourself. 

Tonderai: How good to where I am now. So I think like you said, Look, I'm actually originally from the Manicaland province. That's where my dad comes from. But I grew up on my mother's side, which is my single. So the early parts of my childhood, I grew up in, in a smaller village called Zimuto in Masvingo, I would say, probably at the age of 10 or so my uncle then said, You know what, he sees a lot of potential in me and he said, I need to go and live with him Harare. So I moved over to Harare and went to Blackiston  Primary School, which was a massive, massive, massive, you know, change. I mean, you can imagine now from coming from ruzevha, where there was no electricity, no running water, you know, we didn't speak English, or that kind of stuff. And then suddenly, like being in the city, bright lights, having to learn how to speak English. I look I was very fortunate. I think playing sport made life actually so much easier for me to actually transition into this. This new. You know, these new adventures that that I was not exposed to. And then Funny enough, when I was at Blackiston, and I think a lot of people would know Themba Mliswa as a politician, but before that, You know, I think obviously he was involved in some business, but he was actually the first person that, that coached me in rugby. So Themba Mlisa, and another another gentleman, also politician called Gerald Maguranyanga Maguire, they were the first people to introduce me to this sport that I dearly love rugby, and started playing rugby at Blakiston. And, you know, from there moved over to Prince Edward, which is, you know, I mean, if you want to play rugby in Zim, there is no better school than Prince Edward so I was fortunate enough to have been had the privilege and honour of playing for Prince Edward. Absolutely loved my time, I always say, in his matches, I will always be so so grateful. And I think my memories for playing the Springboks obviously, my best some of my best memories, but I think playing for Prince Edward, for the Prince Edward Tigers, is probably my most cherished memories, absolutely loved that school, and I'm so appreciative of how that school environment sort of moulded me into, into the person that I am today. So I think from Prince Edward was, you know, fortunate enough to have been going for these school tours, rugby tours, and you know, got exposed to playing rugby at a high level. And through there ended up playing for the Zim Craven week side and picked up a few bursaries, you know, moved over to South Africa. And yeah, this, I guess, from there, you know, things just kind of moved pretty quickly. And before I knew it, I was moving up the ranks playing for the SA under 21s and then Super Rugby. And then eventually, you know, playing for the Springboks. So in a nutshell, that's, that's my life, my rugby career rather. 

Vongai : it's so great that you mentioned that, like one of your greatest memories was definitely playing for the Prince Edward Tigers, because I was actually going to ask you if you have any favourite memories growing up or visiting Zimbabwe?

Tonderai : Yeah, look, I think, in as much as I mean, I've been in South Africa now for I've been out of Zim for over 20 years. I mean, it doesn't matter how long I live outside of Zimbabwe. I’m Zimbabwean. So for me, I mean, I don't quite get people that to be like a former Zimbabwean or whatever. I suppose we're all different. But I am super proud of to be Zimbabwean, I will always identify myself as Zimbabwean, and I will do whatever I can to, to see how I can contribute to making Zim a better place. And I think I did forget your question.

Vongai : It was favourite memories. [chuckles]

 Tonderai : Memories. Yeah, look, favourite memories. Like, I think even if I look back, my time in the village, so my grandma raised me, and she's the most loving and amazing woman in the world. And I mean, I had a very big, I still have a very close relationship with my grandma. So I mean, there's so much that we did there. And look despite the fact that I lived in the rural areas and everything, I was actually a very sheltered person. I was actually a very sheltered person. And I cannot say that I ever lacked in anything that that I needed while I was there, so I mean my time with my grandma is just amazing, then obviously, I think, certainly moving to moving to Harare, and just sort of climatizing if you want to say, to the environment, and certainly the journey from Form 1 to Form 4 at Prince Edward was, was quite an adventurous one. So yeah, I mean, those are by far, obviously, apart from me being married and having children just in terms of the journey before that. And obviously, I mean, I can't, I can't not mention my my time, you know, playing professional rugby and having the, the opportunity to visit all these amazing countries that I mean, I never even knew existed. And I think I've been really fortunate to have met some amazing people along the way as well,

Vongai : Through visiting these different countries. I come from the perspective of being a Third culture kid. So I was born in Zimbabwe. I grew up in London and Beijing live I've been living in America for just over six years. With visiting these other countries, do you feel like it's shaped your worldview in any way. And seeing the differences in cultures but also the way that cultures are similar, if that makes sense.

 Tonderai : Yeah, I mean, firstly, for you, I mean, living in Beijing must have been quite quite an experience. How long were you there for?

Vongai : I was there for, I'm gonna say this, I was there for all of my teens. [leans into microphone] But by the way, listeners, I'm still a teenager. Yeah, so I was there, all of my teens. And it was like, the best years of my life, I can't, I can't even imagine what it would have been like, being a teenager anywhere else. Like, I went to international school. So it kind of felt like being part of a mini UN, where we were just like, existing. Yeah, we were, we were existing, and no one had beef with each other, it didn't seem at the time, like, you know, like, there was racism or homophobia or anything, we were just, we just were. And a lot of the people that I went to school, whether we're in the same situation as me, like, they'd also grown up in other places before they came to Beijing. So it was just this great place where we could just share our experiences and just, we were literally our school Harrow International School literally raised us to be global citizens. And we would have these expeditions every year at school where they would send us out into different remote areas, and sometimes villages in China to just understand the world in a better way and to, to be a  more appreciative of the stuff that we have. So I remember we volunteered for different orphanages, or like donated musical instruments or taught children music and drama and, and, and some, some people would go to different areas and help build things and, and we'd also like immerse ourselves in the culture would go like bike riding and learn different cooking and Peking Opera. So it was it was definitely great in like, opening up my worldview to be like this. These are different cultures, China was preparing for the Olympics. But it was so interesting to go into different areas, seeing the poverty and seeing how either it was similar to Zimbabwe, or worse than what was happening in Zimbabwe, which was very interesting for me to see.

Tonderai : That's amazing. That's amazing. I think you touched on a few things. Like, definitely, I think one of the things that I certainly am so so grateful for is 1) is playing sport, while going to mixed schools where you've got people from, from different races, different cultures, different sort of socio-economic standings, and then playing sport, was also played an incredible role in my life in terms of shaping me, and how I, how I see people, and obviously, you know, travelling and being exposed to, you know, travelling and seeing and experiencing all these different cultures in different places, is amazing. And I think if there's one thing that less privileged or rather people that are living in poverty, and particularly the kids. That is that I really feel for them is that being robbed of that opportunity to experience different cultures and different places is, I mean, it, you just, you just look at things differently. And at times, it's actually not even about it's not even about class. So I look at even some of my white friends. While some of the white friends, some of the white friends that have become obviously my friends, their view of different cultures, at times has been quite different because they maybe they didn't have black friends before. Maybe they were not exposed to different cultures and different races before. So their view of life, I always loved that. One of the things that I used to do when you know, when I was playing, playing rugby was that I mean, I'm someone who loves building bridges. And you know, you I think being a foreigner living in South Africa, it actually gave me some some sort of an advantage in that I was able to, to, you know, to connect with whether the Afrikaans or English white guys because of the rugby, so I was sort of privy to some conversations that take place there. And then at the same time, I was also friends with my Black, South African friends. And then you know, you hear all these sort of different preconceived ideas about certain races, which often shaped our. Not out of knowledge but out of perception. So it's amazing when you get people together, let's say you're having a braai and having a bit of a laugh, and then people loosen up then afterwards, then, you know, yeah, oh, that guy is actually not a nice not a bad guy for a white guy, or, you know, the, you know, that guy's a, you know, he's a, he's a nice guy, you know, he's, it's just one of those things where if people don't mix, and they don't, they don't get to know each other, they'll always be these preconceived ideas of Oh, whites are racist, or Blacks, you know, whatever, whatever the case, whatever the case may be. So, I've just found that the more we can expose ourselves, to different cultures, going experience, different countries, and all that kind of stuff, it's really just shapes your worldview in a tremendous way.

Vongai : I love that and I love that we're touching on this, because you say that you. You are someone who builds bridges. I call myself a connector, actually, my friends say Vongai, you're the plug, they call me the plug. But I see myself definitely as a connector, and I love talking to people. And it's great to have these conversations. I know that Nelson Mandela definitely inspired you to play rugby, I read that somewhere. And this whole idea of sport, having the power to bring people together, which I feel Performing Arts has given me that power to bring people together or to educate people or help them escape from whatever, whatever thing they're going through, in a given moment, just for like a short amount of time, I want to ask, Who were the three people that you looked up to as examples when you were growing up?

Tonderai : I think it was actually my family members. So my mom, particularly my mom, she. I'm sure you know, so we didn't come from wealth. But you know, a mom is always hard working and really through the stories that she will tell, you know, coming to coming to South Africa, coming to come buy a few things and, and going back home to sell. Now she'll tell me of all these incredible stories about how, on the one hand, South Africa is a land of opportunity. But on the other hand, you know, there’s obviously, oppression it was during apartheid days, but I mean, I grew up seeing my mom, just working. I mean, my mom is she's she's a very hard worker. And she actually just really inspired me, just seeing how hard she worked for, for, for me, my brother, and for everything that she had. And, you know, my uncles were also incredibly hardworking. And also, I think, more importantly, I think through my family, particularly my uncles, I learned how to communicate and how to relate to people. They, my late uncle, particularly, you know, on a teacher's salary, he managed to put so many of his, you know, for so many of his family through school. And yeah, it was really, really just just inspirational, just to see how he was always willing to go the extra mile to, to help to help someone else. And, you know, my uncle played for the Tigers for he was very talented athlete is actually more of a brother than an uncle. But, you know, he ended up becoming Gladiator, South African Gladiator, which was a very popular show back in the day. So, you know, certainly I think, because he, he made it, it certainly gave me that, that belief that if he could make it, I could make it too. So I think it certainly helps having examples in your family of people that that have come from very exactly the same circumstances. But they've, you know, they have they have they've achieved so I would say, you know, those those three, were definitely in my, my inspiration. I mean, you know, we could say, Oh, you know, Michael Jordan, but I mean, I enjoyed watching a little bit of basketball. In fact, I knew people like Michael Jordan, Maradona, Pele and all of those type of people just through this was me in the rural areas just through people talking about them that had never actually even seen them. But they'd heard of these legends. So so you know [chuckles], you grew up wanting to be like Pele just knowing that hey, okay. Pele is a was a was an amazing football player, but you know, you've never actually seen him play. So yeah, I think, fortunately, I have amazing examples of, you know, people in my family.

Vongai : It's interesting that you bring up Michael Jordan and Pele, I don't, you probably you probably seen it. But I loved watching The Last Dance on Netflix, it just like took me back to the 90s. And got me really riled up. I am someone who grew up who never really participated in sports, but I am obsessed with sports movies. So anything that involves people playing sports, because then at the end, they win or whatever that anticipation, and just the idea of training and the idea of the Olympics, I have always found inspiring the power that athletes have, and the power that just people in the public eye have and what they what they can do with that, like the fact that Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, May He rest in peace, they've become such inspirations, not only for playing sport, and doing your best or being great business people, but they've also become symbols of what it means to keep pushing yourself. 

Tonderai :  Yeah. 

Vongai : And striving towards excellence, even if you never get there, which I think is really great and inspirational. What does it feel like knowing that you are a representative of your country? How does it feel knowing that you've gone further than the people before you then your ancestors ever did? 

Tonderai : Well, I mean, starting with the ancestry thing is like, obviously, without without them, having fought for us to be, you know, having given their lives in most of them gave their lives, so that we could have an opportunity where we are on equal footing, you know, we wouldn't be here and I think, touching on the power of sport, I was actually having a very, very good conversation yesterday with, with Mr. Mutasa, we're actually talking about a similar similar subject. And, you know, you mentioned the role that someone like Tiger Woods, you could even throw in there Michael Jordan, you know, Muhammad Ali, you know, those kind of guys that, because of their incredible success in sport, it not only changed our perception, and our worldview as Black people, that we too, can achieve it. But it also changed other races. And it opened up, you know, really, in terms of that. Building Bridges, the fact that, you know, someone like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, I mean, Tiger Woods what he achieved in golf, golf was never known as, as a Black man sport , it was always known as a white sport. And the fact that he absolutely dominated for the longest time, it gave it gave, I guess, the perception on the, let's say, white or other colours, racial races, that, hey, you know, Black people can do it as well. And it was, I would like to believe that it also played some sort of a role in eventually, Barack Obama being, you know, making it to the office. So I do think that going back to my role, if you've been given some sort of a platform where people recognise you, whether it be through sport or through even work, I think we all have some sort of a responsibility that we've got. You know, I love that. One of the verses in the Bible that talks about much is given much is required, as that, you know, that we all have a sort of role to play in, in whether it be nation building, or, or whatever the case may be, we just really have to use what we have to, you know, to make this world a better place and to you know, to represent our country. I mean you don’t know how many times I get asked exactly how, how things are things. And how is this and how is that, and I think, look, we can't hide from the fact that look, Zim is not in a great place. We were fortunate that I would like to I think that our generation guys that are like about my age, were some of the last people to experience of, the of the younger generation to experience them when things are going well. And I feel sorry for the kids growing up now, experiencing Zim, not in a good state. But in saying that, for all the bad things that are going on in every country has got its has got it’s own. There is no country that is perfect. There is certainly a lot of positive things that we can we can draw and we can say about our country. And I think, yes, the negative stuff can be can be addressed. But I think that, you know, if we really focus on the amazing, good things that we have, you know, we, we can be better off.