South Africans have had precious little to celebrate in recent months.
We have been assailed with an increase in VAT and fuel prices have gone up steeply, with the resultant increases in the cost of almost all services, goods and food.
We have the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma evading justice on
allegations that they raped the country’s coffers through the
cynical state capture scheme.
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Former president Jacob Zuma finally appeared in court on
racketeering, fraud, corruption and money-laundering charges, but it is plain that it will be some time yet before the matter is finalised.
Crime remains an issue.
However, the one thing guaranteed to lift the spirits of our beleaguered nation is success in sport.
It was, therefore, extremely gratifying to see our athletes performing as well as they are in the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Team South Africa formally announced their presence at the Games with a glut of medals on Monday, smashing records and upsetting the form book. And all indications are that we can expect even more.
Swimmer Cameron van der Burgh rounded off a stellar Commonwealth career with gold in the 50m breaststroke, beating world-record holder Adam Peaty in the process, while Chad le Clos made a clean sweep of the butterfly golds along with a 100m freestyle silver.
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Tatjana Schoenmaker announced herself to the world with golds in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events, breaking Penny Heyns’s nearly 20-year-old continental record along the way, and the para-athletes have also been among the medals on the track.
More came with Akani Simbine winning South Africa’s first Commonwealth 100m gold, and countryman Henricho Bruintjies taking second place ahead of former world champion Yohan Blake.
Adding to the excitement was Caster Semenya blitzing Zola Budd’s 34-year-old national record on the way to gold in the 1500m, with an appearance in the 800m final still to come, and Clarence Munyai breaking Wayde van Niekerk’s 200m South African
record in his semi-final.
On Wednesday, our Luvo Manyonga took gold in the men’s long jump and Ruswahl Samaai picked up bronze.
Our athletes have also done well in the field, leaving us in fourth position on the medals table yesterday, but with more to come.
Coming after the bitter-sweet victory over Australia in the controversial cricket Test series, these are moments for the country to savour and to take heart from.