Master angler Rudzani Calvin Nwendamutswu of Tshifudi Village outside Thohoyandou started to catch fish as a hobby, but he has become so good at this sport that he is one of the most respected anglers in the country today.

As a teenager, Nwendamutswu, who is a director at the Limpopo Department of Public Works, would sneak out of his home armed with a sharpened piece of wire that served as a hook and a fishing line tied to a piece of reed to catch fish at the local Lundevhe river. 

This became a lifelong hobby, and when he relocated to Polokwane around 2015, he joined the Anguilla Fishing Club. In 2019, he joined the LaBeouf Fishing Club, which only had white members at the time.

“I have been fishing every year since 2016 in the Masters A category as a member of the six-man team representing Limpopo, and I have been the only black member of the team,” he said. “My journey has not been easy and without challenges. To start with, I have to finance everything from my pocket, unlike members from the police and defence whose departments support them financially,” he explained.

Nwendamutswu said that every angler’s goal was to get their Protea colours - a status that anglers are proud of. “I am happy to make history and be the first black member to achieve this status,” he said.

Nwendamutswu specialises in bank angling, where one casts a fishing line from the bank of a dam.