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Not to bring the vibe of the 🏉 weekend down, … but I have to get this thing of politicians sharing the stage with sportspeople, off my chest. There was one time in our history when it appropriate, possibly necessary, and that was Ellis Park in 1995. But there are few other times I can think of when politics and sports should mix. So I wrote to Bill Beaumont …
The Chairperson
World RugbyDear Mr. Beaumont
While there is a certain protocol at the closing ceremony of the RWC, may I suggest that with your 2023 edition, you dropped the ball, compromising the Springbok players, and by extension, the South African public.
With your inclusion of SA president, Cyril Ramaphosa, in the final award ceremony, you coerced the winning players to publically acknowledge this man, forced them to give him their “stamp of approval”. His inclusion in the presentation party allowed him to be part of the players’ success, to ride on the coat-tails of their glory.
Why would this compromise our players receiving their winners medals, and South Africans at large? To explain this, one need only listen to the speeches from team management and the team Captain Siya Kolisi. Their utterances consistently refer to the problems which demoralise and bedevil their less fortunate countrymen. Just listen to a few samples…
*[this is for] “the people who need hope”
* “People who are not from South Africa don’t understand what this means for our country….our country goes through such a lot ….. we are that hope that they have”
*“As soon as we work together, it shows what is possible, no matter in what sphere…”
*“There’s not a lot of things going right in our country”
*“It’s a beautiful country with a lot of problems”
*“Bring people together”.
*And indirect quotes which allude to the problems……. loadshedding, crime, corruption, ineptitude, SOE failure, jobs-for-pals ….. the problems which bedevil this country and its multitude of poor.Why do they have to say these things? Why do SAfricans have to rely on a sports team for some semblance of hope, for a sense of pride, to bring them together with fellow citizens? Well Mr. Beaumont, it’s because the very politician you hosted on your presentation stage, is a large part of the decay and failure to which Kolisi alludes.
The specific charges need not be highlighted here, but believe me Billy, our billionaire leader, who pretends to care about racial harmony while stoking it; who pretends to care about economic prosperity, while derailing it; who pretends to be tough on corruption while paying it lip service; and who watches infrastructural decay and retreats to his luxury tax-funded lifestyle, has a lot to answer for, and 64 million Safricans to answer to.
Isn’t it ironic that the very conditions the Springbok captain has to lament, are driven and exacerbated by the very man whose hand he has to shake on the world stage, and with whom he must share holding aloft the trophy; the trophy earned through blood, sweat, hard work, focus, diligence, authenticity and commitment, qualities so lacking in our gormless president. To be forced to compromise one’s principles in such a fashion with someone who had no contribution, AT ALL, to one’s success. Oh the indignity! Sorry Siya. Sorry Bokke. Sorry South Africans.
So Mr. Beaumont, let the sportsmen shine at sporting events, and keep those politicians who seek to earn undeserved attention, away from the trophy table
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