- Lusanda Dumke played 33 Tests for South Africa, captained the national team three times and won three titles with Bulls Daisies.
- Dumke won a car in 2022 but used the R265,000 prize money to help buy a house in Mdantsane instead.
Lusanda Dumke, one of South Africa's most admired women's rugby players, has died of stomach cancer.
She passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning at Life St Dominic's Hospital in East London. She was 28.
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The former Border Ladies captain and Springbok Women blindside flanker made her debut in 2018 against Wales. She played 33 Tests for South Africa and captained the national team three times. Her final match was against Italy in Cape Town earlier this year.
Dumke scored 10 tries. She also played for the Springbok Women's Sevens side and was part of the team at the 2022 Women's World Cup in New Zealand.
In 2022, she won SA Rugby's Women's Player of the Year. She was also named Eastern Cape Sports Star of the Year and received a VW Polo Vivo.
But many were shocked to learn she lived in a shack in the Masibambane informal settlement in Mdantsane. She used the R265,000 prize money to help buy a house.
It was R200,000 short. Then deputy mayor Princess Faku, the provincial human settlements department and sports philanthropist Siviwe Mpengesi raised the remaining money. They bought her a house in Mdantsane NU7.
Faku said: "We could not fold our arms when one of our sports stars was in dire need."
Dumke became captain of the Bulls Daisies in 2023. The team won three consecutive Women's Premier Division titles. She made 31 appearances for the Daisies.
Her illness forced her out in August. She missed the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup in the United Kingdom, where South Africa reached the quarterfinals.
SA Rugby president Mark Alexander said Dumke will be remembered as a symbol of courage, leadership and humility.
