File Photo
File Photo
You know, this country really is something special. It may not always feel that way, but Jonathan Jansen’s tribute to the South African spirit is the timeliest of reminders.
In his Sunday Times column, “Why do Things Never Fall Apart in South Africa?“, he asks why we are always seemingly on the brink of disaster and yet, we apparently avoid it every time.
He recalls every near-apocalyptic scenario we’ve faced in recent times: Economic collapse, the complete undermining of government and of course, the early days after apartheid fell. With each doomsday, comes an eleventh-hour intervention.
Like the rest of us, Jansen isn’t blinkered. He accepts that our society still has its problems. But we’ve heard a lot about that, haven’t we? Here, the author considers the real beating heart of this country: The South African people.
His post has since been shared on Facebook and has enjoyed viral success over the last week. Here’s what’s got everyone raving:
Why do things never fall apart in South Africa?
Our capacity for self-correction
“In the 1980s, we were warned of a racial bloodbath because of an intransigent white government and a widespread black resistance to apartheid. And then February 2 happened, announcing the unbanning of liberation movements and Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, fist raised.”
“With every crisis, including the imminent collapse of the economy under Jacob Zuma, we self-correct and now we have a new president with the massive task of reconstruction and development.”
The ability to laugh at ourselves mid-crisis
“In the heat of the anti-apartheid struggle, the most popular comedian was Pieter Dirk-Uys who, in a strange way, eased the pain of the moment by using political comedy to demonstrate the utter farce of apartheid as ideology and as practice.”
Even the ideas to rename Cape Town Airport have been tense. But then, someone posted this on social media: “The airport should be called Joe Masepus international airport. The locals will love it.” You could almost feel the tension dissipate as everyone laughed.”
Our capacity to forgive
“There is something deep within us, as South Africans, to both ask for and accept forgiveness.”
“When the so-called Reitz Four, those white boys who racially abused five black workers at my former university, asked for forgiveness, the response was instant – of course, we do. I know of no other country with this deep, spiritual capacity to forgive.”
Huge political gestures
“Mandela understood the power of gestures when he put on the No 6 rugby jersey at the Rugby World Cup or when he visited Tannie Betsie Verwoerd in Orania.”
“I was invited to the Wynberg Synagogue here in Cape Town whose leaders had invited a Muslim community to break their fast in this Jewish house of prayer. Here, Muslims and Jews break bread together and, in the process, keep us all together.”
The South African spirit in sport
“We avert disaster by our tenacity as a people, our determination to take on the long odds. Like when, after 18 minutes, South Africa were 3-24 down in the first Test against the much better-ranked England.”
“By this time I was talking to the ‘ref’ in all our official languages. It was over. And then, against the odds, this team led, symbolically, by the first black African captain of the national rugby squad, fought back and won the game 42-39.”
The moral underground
“Tens of thousands of people who work as volunteers, behind the scenes, to make South Africa work.”
“I meet them every day, such as the gogo who does early-childhood care in her backyard for the children of working mothers and who receives training and resources from a farmer’s wife to make this possible.”
You can read Jansen’s full post on South African spirit here.
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