Max du Preez supports calls for the verses from Die Stem to be removed from our national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.
Pretoria - I support calls for the stanzas from the old apartheid anthem to be removed from our national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. The anthem with the verses from Die Stem included was a political compromise at the time of our transition from minority rule to a democracy in a unitary state.
It was meant to reassure the white minority that the new democracy posed no threat to them; that they were welcome as full citizens in the new dispensation.
I supported it then, even though I had refused to sing Die Stem for all my adult life. I knew how important it was to calm the waters at a time when the movement seen by many in the white community as terrorists and communists was taking over government.
Stability was, quite rightly, a priority of the Nelson Mandela presidency.
Johnny-come-lately populists and people with short memories today ignore the fragility of and inherent dangers of our transition.
They forget that a previous chief of the old Defence Force, General Constand Viljoen, had mobilised thousands of farmers, commando members and permanent force soldiers in 1993 and threatened to derail negotiations and obstruct the 1994 elections.
But we are over that now. The vast majority of white South Africans and other minorities, while perhaps unhappy about many aspects of the ANC government, live settled, productive lives in the new democracy.
The threats to our stability now come from another quarter: angry black citizens, the poor and unemployed and organisations like the Economic Freedom Fighters, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA.
Bubbling under the surface of this anger still is a deep resentment of the white minority and the continued levels of inequality in our society.
Many white people are frustrated that their black counterparts constantly refer back to the history and legacy of apartheid. They seem to feel that for as long as this is the case, they will feel unwelcome and marginalised.
They say they are tired of being made to feel perpetually guilty.
We can have long debates on whether this perception has some legitimacy.
But what is relevant for this debate is: if you want your black fellow citizens to stop reminding you of our apartheid past, why do you insist on retaining stanzas from the apartheid anthem in the hymn that celebrates our new society?
Here’s another consideration: our new anthem is musically jarring.
The Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika part is a gentle hymn, while the music to Afrikaans and English stanzas from Die Stem is militaristic marching music.
If I were a leader in the parties and groups with significant white support, like the DA, the Freedom Front Plus, Solidarity and AfriForum, I would take the initiative and propose to Parliament that we adopt a new national anthem with no elements of nostalgia for the old South Africa.
It could be a powerful and symbolic act from a population group seen by most as selfish and self-obsessed.
I would suggest that Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika remained the basis of our new anthem. It is a beautiful melody and beautiful lyrics with a long history that all democrats in South Africa can associate with.
I think most South Africans, black, brown and white, are deeply moved by it.
The new anthem should not lose all symbolism of inclusivity. Instead of the present Afrikaans and English words from Die Stem, why can’t we have a verse in Afrikaans and English using the same melody used for the other languages, repeating the same message of asking for blessings and peace?
The anthem now contains Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho words, yet it was originally written only in Xhosa.
Afrikaans is the third biggest language in South Africa, home language to some 7 million people (only about 2.7 million of them white). English is not only the home language to white English speakers, but to more than 3 million others and the language most of us use to communicate over language barriers.
By including Afrikaans and English, we would include the languages mostly used by whites and those classified as coloured and Indian.
If we do this, we will send the message that we are all together in our devotion to our country and democracy, instead of a message that some of us yearn for the past.
There are quite a number of South Africans who refuse to sing the stanzas from Die Stem in our national anthem.
Others, like me, sing it reluctantly. If we removed all references to apartheid and colonialist eras, we could all sing our national anthem together with no reservations or resentments.
Such a new national anthem could come to symbolise a renewed commitment to tolerance and national unity.
* Max du Preez is an author and columnist.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
Pretoria News