Siya Kolisi reveals plans for his retirement

Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi has opened up on what he intends to do once he hangs up his boots.

Kolisi revealed his hope to continue the charitable work he and Rachel have started through their foundation.

Despite being possibly the most popular leader in South Africa, Siya Kolisi says that a career in politics isn’t for him.

Kolisi instead wants to focus on the good he can do through his charitable foundation.

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NO CAREER IN POLITICS FOR SIYA KOLISI, JUST CHARITY

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Kolisi told the Daily Mail, that he wouldn’t be looking to get into politics but would be out to combat gender-based violence in South Africa.

“Politics? Nah. You don’t want to see me there. I’m going to dedicate myself to my foundation. I went to New York last week and did some fundraising for it,” he said.

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“South Africa is number one in the world in gender-based violence. My aunt and my mum were the first people I knew that were being abused.

“In my community you see it so many times that it becomes normal. That’s not good, being immune to things like that. If a man and a woman argued then it would end up in a fight, because men don’t really speak.

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“I learnt to speak by going through therapy. I had to go to marriage counselling because I couldn’t give everything to my wife, because my heart was so hard and I didn’t know how to speak.

“In my late 20s, I started talking to someone and the first time I went she said: ‘You are damaged in every level. The stuff that you saw is not normal’.

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“It’s extreme, it’s bad. You have to speak about it, get through it. That’s why you grow up and your heart is so hard. Something happens in the community, you fight with someone, forgive them, and you move on. That’s normal in my neighbourhood.”

HUMBLED AND MOVED

Kolisi says that the response to the 2023 Rugby World Cup win has moved him deeply.

He said: “A lot of people have been in a dark place but you could see their joy when we travelled around South Africa. It’s like they had been waiting for something to lift them.

“Some people couldn’t afford to watch us at home during the World Cup because you have to pay for the TV. People started opening up malls at 10pm to watch us play. Different backgrounds, different races, all sitting together.

“When we went home I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. In Cape Town, the bus couldn’t move. You’d look up and you couldn’t see land, you just see people. Then you turn a corner and there are even more people. It was special.”