Levelling the Playing Field
Sports uniting a divided nation.
PICTURE: KIM KYUNG-HOON/Reuters
By Xola Qetsemani
How do we as South Africans view culture in terms of the different ethnic backgrounds and practices? And what is it about our South African culture that makes us so unique? To answer that question, I think we need not focus on what makes us so different but rather on what makes us so similar. I do believe that South Africans have many things in common that we love to share, but the one thing that trumps all is our beautiful sporting culture.
I understand that some people view the topic of sport as ‘boring and uninteresting’, but I am not speaking solely on the side of entertainment and leisurely pleasures. I am exploring how it makes us feel as a people and what it does in bringing different backgrounds together. It has to be said that as South Africans we have an ironic relationship with our sport. In the Apartheid era our sportsmen and women were segregated by virtue of the colour of their skin. This led to our being banned from international sporting events in all sporting codes. A politically motivated African boycott of the 1968 Mexico Olympics saw South Africa being booted out of international sport. African countries were enraged when South Africa was invited to take part in those games while still under the Apartheid system. Fellow African countries that were meant to be part of the games then boycotted in protest against the decision to include South Africa.
If we fast forward to 1990, when the process of dismantling Apartheid began, we regained our participation in international sports - and what happened? Five years later we won the Rugby World Cup. The following year our national football squad won the African Cup of Nations. Not to mention that we successfully hosted both events. These two great achievements united our country in an unbelievable way. I was only five at the time of both events, but even to this day I get goose bumps when watching video footage of the celebrations - the smiles, the cheers and the tears.
So is sport in South Africa a way of life or is it just for entertainment purposes? Well, as I mentioned before, sports bring our people together and no-one can deny that fact. If we were to take another example, it would have to be the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The patriotism displayed by the people of Mzansti was just too overwhelming and no words can describe this. It was beautiful to see people from different backgrounds and ethnic groups standing together side by side, singing and celebrating in unison. Black, white, coloured, pink or blue, there is simply no denying that history was being made right there and it was at that moment I finally realised what it meant to be part of the so-called ‘Rainbow Nation’.
While this whole ‘football fever’ was in the air, I witnessed something extraordinary, something that one would not usually find on a typical day in South Africa. I had decided to that a train from Khayelitsha to Cape Town and on that particular day I saw that all of the townships were filled with white people. Now, it’s obviously not a new thing to see white tourists in the townships, but these weren’t tourists… these were white South Africans finally overcoming their fear and experiencing different cultures. I think that this was partly assisted by the Sho’t Left Campaign that was launched in 2004 and the Proudly South African Campaign launched in 2001. This made me think back to 2007, when the Springboks played and won the Rugby World Cup final against England. I have never seen as many black people chanting ‘Amabhokobhoko’ so often and so passionately in all the years I’ve been on this planet. That again was one of the extraordinary moments in history that brought out the camaraderie in the people of S.A.
Sadly this kind of camaraderie was absent in the beginning of this year when we hosted the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. There were negative vibes surrounding our ‘beloved’ Bafana Bafana. People said that we never qualify for major tournaments, we only get in by default when we host the event. Another reason why people raised their eyebrows was the fact that a big city like Cape Town did not get to host any of the games.
Having said that, there is no denying the power of our sporting culture and the powerful impact it has in rebuilding this great nation of ours. So what effect does sport have on South African culture? You can answer that one yourself, because it obviously affects us all differently.