Cape Town — The singing of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika before every Springbok Test match is always a special occasion.
While I remain neutral when writing about SA sports teams, I am proudly South African. And hearing the national anthem is a profound moment for me, especially considering what this beautiful country has gone through during the horrors of apartheid to fight for a democratic dispensation, and then the current battles we face as a nation in almost every sphere of society.
Sports matches are a bit of escapism from all those travails such as loadshedding, the petrol price and the cost of living, and for 80-odd minutes, South Africans urge their rugby heroes in green-and-gold to at least give them something to cheer.
But then, shouldn’t those Bok fans give those players and coaches something in return? Let’s address the elephant in the room: it’s unacceptable and embarrassing for South African crowds to still sing the Afrikaans section of the national anthem louder than the other parts at home Tests.
The recent three-match encounter against Wales didn’t dish up the most exciting rugby, but captain Siya Kolisi and his team pulled through when it mattered most, and claimed a 2-1 series victory with a 30-14 win at Cape Town Stadium last Saturday.
It was a memorable day for home-grown lock Eben Etzebeth, who celebrated his 100th Bok Test with a Man-of-the-Match performance. And it was extra special for the 30-year-old as his fiancé, Anlia van Rensburg, sang the national anthem, while there was also a unique fire display with the words Eben 100 on the pitch.
But while Van Rensburg delivered a fine rendition of ‘Nkosi’, the singing from the crowd left a sour taste in my mouth once again.
It started off well enough (I have also uploaded my own video of it on Twitter) with the isiXhosa, isiZulu and Sesotho lines making up the first two stanzas.
But then there is a considerable rise in volume when the third, Afrikaans, stanza is sung by the 51 347 spectators. The decibels go up a few notches, and that continues for the final, English stanza.
It was a similar story at Bloemfontein’s Free State Stadium for the second Test, which is hardly surprising in the Afrikaans heartland — but how did it happen in supposedly cosmopolitan Cape Town?
For me, the anthem was sung best at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, of all places, with the African languages getting similar love to the Afrikaans parts.
Of course, this is not a language issue. The context of the Afrikaans part is that it is the first four lines taken from the apartheid-era anthem, Die Stem — and that compromise by the democratic government is something that still bothers me to this day.
It was done in the name of reconciliation, though, and has been generally accepted by society.
But is it too much to ask rugby fans at Bok Tests to belt out the first two stanzas of our national anthem with the same gusto as the Afrikaans part?
Perhaps it is an appropriate time to remind ourselves of what the Sesotho and English stanza state…
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso (Lord we ask You to protect our nation)
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho (Intervene and end all conflicts)
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso (Protect us, protect our nation)
Setjhaba sa, South Afrika, South Afrika (Protect South Africa, South Africa)
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.
IOL Sport