Can the Boks save us?
Much has been written about South Africa's victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, one year after the country's first democratic elections.
Search Google, and you'll find various essays reflecting on whether South Africans truly felt united in that moment when former president Nelson Mandela handed over the Webb Ellis trophy to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, or whether it was a myth created through the lens of television, in which the impression was created on the field and in the stands that the country had put behind its brutal past and stood fully behind the Boks.
At the time, the then-minister of water affairs and forestry, the late Kader Asmal, wrote in the then-Weekly Mail:
Symbols … are a battle ground, a terrain upon which we can win, or we can lose. In rugby, we have won. All South Africa has won. The president's presence on the sporting ground was a charged political claim, a foray into cultural nation building.
It has been 28 years since that moment, and circumstances have changed.
While democracy is firmly intact, social and economic justice continues to be elusive in many cases.
South Africa is battling high unemployment, high interest rates, and high inflation.
Load shedding has eased for the moment but remains an issue, while there are concerns that water shedding could soon be on the cards.
In the international realm, the country's foreign policy has come under fire for the government's differing stances on the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Gaza war.
In this week's Friday Briefing, we ask whether the Springboks can save us as a nation as they prepare to take on England on Saturday in France in a World Cup semi-final, and is this expectation fair?
In her submission, the author of Touch, Pause, Engage: Exploring the Heart of South African Rugby and Springbok Factory, Liz McGregor, reflects on how rugby has transformed from 1995 until now and what lessons we can learn from the team when we consider what is needed if we are going to change the country's narrative and build a unified nation.
We also approached News24's senior sports journalist, Simnikiwe Xabanisa.
An excerpt from Rassie Erasmus' book, Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby, has been included in this week's edition of Friday Briefing.
In it, he looks back to when parades happened around the country following the Boks' 2019 win, and how there was so much happiness.
"But happiness doesn't change anything. Happiness doesn't take away your poverty," he writes.
Finally, we republish author and sports journalist Lungani Zama's column in which he muses about how Springboks dictate the pulse of our nation and employ solutions to problems that would derail those with a less South African collective sense of belief.
We hope this edition of Friday Briefing gives you some food for thought ahead of this weekend's clash.
Best,
Vanessa Banton
Opinions editor.
Lessons in unity from the Springboks
The example the Boks have set in how to build a unifying narrative and how to strengthen a team by empowering its members is an inspiring one, writes Liz McGregor.
Is 80 minutes of Springbok excellence enough to sustain us?
The Springboks have always told us they're doing it for "us" South Africans. But can 80-minute snapshots of life on a rugby field in distant France help rebuild what is essentially a broken nation? The answer isn't as black and white as many would like it to be, writes Simnikiwe Xabanisa.
EXCERPT | 'Happiness doesn't change anything. Happiness doesn't take away poverty' - Rassie Erasmus
In this excerpt from 'Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby', Rassie Erasmus reflects on the issue of national unity and how his hopes that someone would steer the joy and happiness from winning the World Cup in 2019 into something more concrete never materialised and we remain with many of the issues we had in 2019.
It's the Springbok hope that thrills you
The Springboks simply refused to let their 2023 Rugby World Cup candle be extinguished on Sunday, writes Lungani Zama.
