Critical ingredient
South Africa deserves a Springbok team representative of the full spectrum of the rainbow that defines us – not on the basis of quotas or affirmative action or window dressing, but on merit and for our long-term well-being as a nation.
In the old days, Springbok rugby symbolised our apartness. When our liberation came, there were many who said we should never call our team “Springboks” again; the very name was too painful.
But others, such as uTata Nelson Mandela, recognised sport’s inherent transformative and healing power, famously embracing our World Cup winners at Ellis Park in 1995.
I, too, joined the campaign for the retention of the symbol, walking down Adderley Street in a Springbok jersey.
Now, nearly 20 years later, I lament the tortoise pace at which transformation at the highest level is being effected.
We’ve been fortunate that Tendai Mtawarira migrated south to our shores. He has been a stalwart stut and a splendid Springbok.
But when ou Beast is not in the team, as is the case in the team selected to play Argentina this Saturday, it creates a considerable gap – not only related to brute force.
Surely, by the 20th anniversary of our freedom from enforced separateness, there are a couple of dark horses out there to run with the browns and the chestnuts in feature races?
Surely people of influence in rugby should have prioritised nurturing and developing such players beyond the point of allowing them to touch the cusp of team selection only to be cruelly denied a taste of the glory?
Particularly hurtful is the selection of black players as peripheral squad members, never given the chance to settle down and earn their spurs.
The undermining of Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje this week is the most recent example. The next in line for a starting berth, he was leapfrogged into the team by a paler player.
Of course, Juan Smith is a fantastic player and by all accounts a very decent South African.
It’s not his fault he’s been selected; it’s his dream. But spare a thought for Oupa. And he’s not the only one. And the Springboks are not the only sporting code.
As a society, we need to understand that embracing one another is neither a political imperative nor political correctness.
It is a critical ingredient to effect our long-term healing.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
Milnerton