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Journalism of Courage
The World Cup is uniting the nation in a manner I have never seen before, says Jacob Zuma,South Africas exuberant president. Bafana Bafana,as the South African national team are popularly called,may be already straining under the burden of history,with every host team till now having successfully qualified for the second round. But as happens,thankfully all too often,in sport its not about rankings. This time,its about getting South Africans to watch the matches,about celebrating the distance their country has travelled since the dark years of apartheid.
In those years South Africa revealed the ugliness of its organising principle of segregation most graphically on the field and in the stands. And the moral outrage against that segregation announced itself in an uncompromising global boycott on sporting ties with South Africa. But as shown in the recent film Invictus,sport has also been integral to South Africas remarkable success in overcoming the divisive legacy of apartheid. Nelson Mandela used the 1995 rugby world cup to craft a popular sense of common purpose by throwing his weight behind the national team rugby had been seen as a white sport and Mandelas appearance in the Springbok jersey was a way of saying,the past is past,the future must be free of vengeance. Thats not to say its been easily accomplished. South Africas black cricketers have openly spoken of a desire to see the countrys demographics more represented in the stands.
