Olympics’ golden moments more than made up for boring local elections
OKAY. It is cool. Two gold medals. South Africa, at the bottom of the continent, received two gold medals and eight in silver and bronze. Not that I and other South Africans really mind; in other words, we are not snobbish but humble winners. The idea was to show PW Botha and the likes that we are really playful people.
We can play. Believe it or not, the two gold medals were not won by mlungus, but by those who are dark in complexion. This is not said to boast but to remind us that we should not go back there again. I really do not want to go back there again. It was not cool. Honestly.
It is still not fathomable for me why, when we could sing and play together, that we chose the separation lifestyle. It is not fair to think of the separate development chaps as stupid, but rather as slightly slow. The truth was revealed by our Olympic participation. Two blacks won gold. This does not mean to say that South African whiteys cannot win gold, but, honestly, as a South African darkie you are not to be blamed when you say Hendrik Verwoerd was wrong.
Mind you, he was Doctor Hendrik Verwoerd! I cannot really remember the university now, but it was quite a reputable institution that gave similar qualifications to similar highly reputed people in this land and the world. Take Robert Mugabe for instance. Yes, he studied in South Africa. He kept on reminding the Zimbabweans that he was not a mugu. He comes from the same academic place like Nelson Mandela and such ouens.
Okay, people like Piet Koornhof tried as youngsters, rumour says, to play rugby and get to the Olympics, but they could not even get a place in their local teams and so resorted to a racial supremacy which could guarantee them some place “higher” in the sociology of things. Aai foei tog!
At the time, it was quite general knowledge that a Xhosa ou from the Karoo could not educate ouens like Koornhof. Nooit. Back to the Olympics, I am glad to say that the world now knows that we are not just a volstruis and dassie area, but we can sometimes run faster than these precious animal species in our precious country.
I sometimes shudder when I think of our success in sport, convincing the international world to come here to observe our animals and the prowess they possess.
It is, in my opinion, our task as this country to introduce the world to the amazing charms of this continent. Is it not true that the majesty of a Kenyan runner is seldom matched by the technological tendencies of the North and West.
Is it not obvious that the East have a fantastic exhibition of the martial arts. It is merely opinion but we could maybe exhibit to them the beauty of iinduku, the popular stick fighting which is a commentary on the end of the circumcision ritual amongst some of the Nguni and some Sotho tribes…
This is taken by me from the understanding that the Olympic moment is based on an international quest, where the many peoples of the globe begin to grasp and battle with the thought that war is not really the ultimate physicality of the peoples of the universe. It is not really true that the Orientals’ idea behind karate and kung fu is to hurt the rest of the world, but my suggestion is that we engage them and learn the mysteries of these fascinating combat forms.
It is also needless to say that we as the indigenous of South Africa should teach our not-so foreign citizenry essences in the magic of our games. The fascination here is playing. Methinks playing is better than fighting. I also do not think that the majority of the peoples in the world are aware of this.
We just need to communicate the magnificent depths of the understanding with a deep passion and deliberation. Our various physical abilities need to be employed in singing praise to the majesties of that concept called humanity.
It is, in my opinion, the hearts of the humble corners of the world that must lead these moments away from the blunders of our treacherous past to the glories rested in the many possibilities of that moment called the future.
The many essences in the multitude abilities of the human spirit need to be reawakened every possible minute to humbly remind us that the many tender moments that are offered to us by life are mere extensions of that glorious thing called life. It was for me an amazing timing that the Olympics wrestled my timid mind away from the local government elections, which for me exhibited the greatest lull since 1994.
There was not a single moment of tingling excitement. On the contrary, it was rather boring. Not because there were no issues to pursue, but because the players were boring. Is it not rather better to watch a sprinter doing the 100m in a record time, rather than listening to a politician reminding us of a promise that was done so many times in the artificial time zones offered by lazy moments. It is, for me, a comment on the many lax moments that we have been given by our democracy that we somehow have forgotten the urgencies of life.
It is time that we wake up to the realities of an existence away from the shallowness of cosy existence. Wake up!