Gone with the wind? - South Africa and the demise of a dream

There is a fascinating piece of writing in the newspaper today, by Zelda Jongbloed. It is in the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport.

Jongbloed begins her piece by referring back to a few years ago, when President Jacob Zuma declared he will not stand for a second term. She then goes on to say that Zuma is now looking strong. He is on his way to be re-elected as president of the ANC and South Africa. This despite levels of corruption that would, in a well-functioning democracy, have led to the end of the president’s term.

Chief amongst these controversies are, of course, the two-hundred-million rand project of upgrading the President’s Nkandla home.

A while ago, there was this conversation on the radio about Cyril Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa has been all over the news for all the wrong reasons since the tragic Marikana massacre, where 34 striking mineworkers were killed by the police.

For many years, Ramaphosa was one of the brightest stars of South Africa - former president Nelson Mandela’s first choice to follow in his footsteps. But then there was the Marikana massacre. And then Ramaphosa apologised. In September the former trade union leader said on the Marikana massacre that “I think a lot of us as stakeholders are to blame. Marikana should not have happened, we are all to blame and there are many stakeholders that should take the blame. But taking the blame should mean that we should make sure it never, ever, happens again.”

But there was quite some fuel added to all this when a series of emails was revealed in which Ramaphosa demanded some tough intervention on the part of the government to end the strikes.

Just 24-hours before the August 16 events, Ramaphosa wrote to a Lonmin officer stating “The terrible events that have unfolded cannot be described as a labour dispute. They are plainly dastardly criminal and must be characterised as such. There needs to be concomitant action to address this situation”.

On the radio show that I heard, it was argued that Ramaphosa could not be directly linked to the shootings because of these revelations. But, it was said, his reputation will be forever tainted.

Ramaphosa once was the man who walked side by side with former president Nelson Mandela as the latter was released from prison. But today he is known to ‘splash the cash’ (apart from apologising for the Marikana massacre, Ramaphosa also apologised for his recent R18 million bid for a buffalo, stating “Yes, I did put a bid and that was a mistake on my part. It was a mistake; I regret it ... it’s an excessive price in the seas of poverty”).

This is the sad state of post-apartheid South Africa. It is as if our leaders just do not care anymore. We were once the people who were trying to build a dream together. We were hailed as a “rainbow nation” – a people with whom God has created a new covenant. Sadly today, it seems, it is just everybody for himself.

It is no wonder that there are people on television crying and shouting that they (the politicians) are only interested in the people of this country when it is voting day. And it is no wonder that Zelda Jongbloed is calling for an end to the system of proportional representation.

'Jesus. Nativity - Passion - Resurrection' - Geza Vermes

Where I come from, which is small town South Africa, there are very few names as important as Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, religiosity is not only limited to some parts in my country. South Africans are very religious indeed. And Jesus forms a very important part of what many people here believe. As a practising Christian, I confess Jesus to be God incarnated. We believe Jesus to be send with a mission – to save mankind.

But Jesus is controversial. From the very beginnings of His ministry on earth, His life and work has been clouded in mystery.

Many people will deny this. Many people will argue that the life and work of Jesus on earth is easy to interpret.

But for me it is harder to deny that Jesus is a controversial figure. In fact, I believe that:

1. It is better for me to be honest about this, not only towards God but also towards my fellow Christians as well as all other people and

2. I believe that God expects me to be sympathetic towards people who do not believe that Jesus is God incarnated and also those who are like me – often sceptical.

A while ago, I have read the book Jesus. Nativity – Passion – Resurrection by Geza Vermes. Geza Vermes is described as “The world’s leading Gospel scholar”. He is a very celebrated theologian. Vermes’s book is in fact three books that he had written, but the edition I studied contains all three in one volume. It is a study of the life of Jesus in three parts, focusing on the mentioned themes.

The life of Jesus is not well documented. The best sources on His life are the four canonised gospels. There are some other sources on the life of Jesus, but the bulk of what scholars knows of Jesus of Nazareth, is what is written in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.

What emerges from Vermes’s book, is that the Bible is full of contradictions about the life of Jesus. For many Christians, this will be quite disturbing. This is so because many of us consider the Bible to be verbatim words of God. If the Bible contradicts itself, how can it be God’s word? But for me this is not really disturbing. What is disturbing to me, is the way in which people can be so unsympathetic towards each other. This book by Vermes has indeed empowered me in many ways. Today it is much more clear to me why there are so many people who doubt in the stories of the gospels - indeed, I understand my own doubts much better.

The Springboks and politics

So, the Springboks have won the opening game of their 2012 European tour against Ireland. It was not the most exciting rugby to watch, especially not the first half of the game. After 40 minutes, Ireland looked very well on their way to beating the Boks as wing JP Petersen was yellow carded 8 minutes from the break. But a much more spirited performance in the second half of the match secured the victory for the South Africans, with a try coming from scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar.

Rugby can be fun in South Africa, seeing that the national side is one of the strongest sides in the world. As a result of their success (the Springboks have won the IRB Rugby World Cup twice, 1995, 2007), the Springboks have played a very important role in South Africa, often uniting the country's very diverse people. But their success has come at a price. The Springboks, unlike many of the other national sports codes of South Africa, is often under attack from politicians, blaming the sport for being 'too white'.

The latest attack was recently lodged at the Springboks by the very prominent African National Congress (ANC) leader Gwede Mantashe, who is the secretary general of the ANC.

Earlier this year, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer also came under attack from former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers for the very same reasons.

But Peter de Villiers, while he was the Springbok coach, also selected very few players of colour. This has obviously left Meyer with a legacy that de Villiers had played no small part in maintaining.

Adding to this confusing mix, the 'Lions' franchise has been dropped from the 2013 Super 15 competition, in favour of the 'E.P. Kings'. The whole idea behind the E.P. Kings is to promote rugby amongst players of colour in the Eastern Cape province. It was expected that this side would be one where many players of colour would get an opportunity. Yet, when the side recently played a promotion/relegation match against the Cheetahs, there were very few players of colour on the field. In fact, the franchise seems keen on attracting white players from overseas to strengthen the side for the 2013 Super 15 competition.

Of all the sports codes in South Africa, it is only the rugby sides that is often in the line of fire because of it's racial composition. During Peter de Villiers's tenure as coach of the Springboks, he was never criticised for not selecting more players of colour. This despite the fact that de Villiers himself did not transform rugby with his selections. Why this is so is truly perplexing.

It is a pity that it is only the rugby sides that is expected to reflect the racial demographics of the country. No other sport in South Africa is treated this way. Football sides in the country is not subject to these demands, and often only represents one population group. And the truth is that football should never be subjected to these demands, because demographical representation is an illogical system. But what should count for one sport code with regards to it's composition, should count for all.

It is discouraging to watch sports when the politics is spoiling everything.

On the Barend van der Merwe blog

Good day. My name is Barend van der Merwe. I am an 'old' blogger. Been blogging for a number of years now, but not in this language, but in my native language, which is Afrikaans. You can see my Afrikaans blog here.

But I have long felt the need to express myself in English, and that is why I took this step and created this blog.

My blogging is mostly concerned with current affairs. The issues vary and it often concerns politics, religion and sports but I have a policy that nothing is too trivial to be blogged about. What dominates is almost always what attracts my attention the most at a particular time. I hope that my efforts will be appreciated by some.