South Africa

Polokwane is not the only (or arguably even the most) contested political terrain in South Africa. One can be certain that the naming of Jake White’s successor as Springbok head coach will be every bit as full of recriminations, barbed comments, and backroom politicking as anything that happens among the ANC’s National Executive Committee in the next month. White, who just published his autobiography (which is flying off the shelves at a rate faster than any book in South Africa in recent memory), providing perfect synergy for South African Rugby Union’s (SARU) decision-making process, will be happy to leave behind some of the baggage that goes with the top coaching post in South African rugby. SARU has announced that the new coach will be named on January 9.

White, who spent much of his tenure under heavy fire from critics, but who left his Springbok post almost wholly vindicated, has also weighed in on his preferred replacement. If his will comes to pass, it will represent an epochal moment in South African rugby, as White would like to see Allister Coetzee become the first black Springbok coach. White believes that the front-runner is Bulls Coach Heyneke Meyer, the only white candidate on a short-list of four. the other candidates are South Africa under-21 coach Peter de Villiers and Chester Williams, 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok wing. (At the risk of self indulgence, I argued in my South Africa Year in Review, which was published yesterday, that you should “expect Allister Coetzee to gain traction as a possible White replacement.”)

A number of stories caught my attention this weekend. Here are a few of them, with brief commentary as appropriate:

The Makana Football Association, which operated surreptitiously on Robben Island among the political prisoners has achieved recognition from FIFA, the sport’s governing body. A feature film, More Than Just a Game, starring Tsotsi’s Presley Chweneyagae, is to be released in South Africa in the next few weeks.

Thabo Mbeki recently has been stepping up his advocacy of a trilateral free trade area between South Africa, India, and Brazil. Mbeki believes that this trade bloc will give these leading nations in the developing world a stronger hand in trades with the World Trade Organization and will focus on addressing poverty and underdevelopment in the three countries and within the regional spheres that they dominate.

The Mail & Guardian’s “ZA @ Play” has an interview with Mark Gevisser, the respected observer of South African politics whose forthcoming book Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred is highly anticipated. The interview is fairly anodyne, truth be told, but the book should stand as a definitive early treatment of Thabo Mbeki’s life if it can avoid the pitfalls of polemicism and advocacy to which virtually all of the books on Mbeki up to now have succumbed. 

Finally, a bit of a controversy has enveloped one of my old stomping grounds, Rhodes University. Last year Anne Warmenhoven submitted a doctoral thesis to Rhodes’ psychology department, which approved the dissertation and granted Warmenhoven the PhD. Her topic is the late disgraced former Proteas captain Hansie Cronje. But the dissertation apparently is nowhere to be found, apparently because members of Cronje’s family only agreed to speak with Warmwnhoven under conditions of secrecy. Obviously this goes against every principle of academic freedom and openness, not to mention ideals of transparency that are supposed to be a hallmark of the New South Africa.

I’ve been out of town for several days, which explains the light posting. I plan to write a great deal, especially about South African politics, next week when I return. In the meantime, Desmond Tutu recently visited the editorial offices of The Boston Globe, and he argued that the recent successes of the Springboks also point the way toward a reason to be optimistic about the general direction of South Africa. 

The Springboks are the World Champions after defeating England 15-6 in the World Cup finals in Paris. South Africa led 9-3 at the break. The Springboks were led by fullback Percy Motgomery’s four kicks. This marks Amobokoboko’s second time hoisting the Ellis Cup, as they also won in historic fashion in 1995.

Nelson Mandela hands the Webb Ellis Cup to Springbok Captain Francois Pienaar after the Springboks won the World Cup in 1995.

It seems that much of the world is lining up to support the Springboks, or at least to oppose what many, including yours truly, believe to be a somewhat unsightly form of rugby emanating from England. Naturally South Africa has its share of high-profile South African boosters, including Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. Perhaps somewhat less expected is the passion the Boks seem to have inspired in Soweto and across parts of the country that have never been traditional rugby strongholds. Even in — gasp! — Australia, legendary rugby writer (and traditionally no fan of things green and gold) Spiro Zavos believes that South Africa must defeat the English side for the sake of rugby!

Some South Africans probably are wary of this sort of bandwagon jumping. I’d tell them to enjoy the status of being not only favorites among the punters, but favorites in the hearts of fans. This rarely happens for South African sporting tams. Bask in it while it lasts. But please, amidst the fanfare and devotion, do crush England.

South Africa is gearing up for this weekend’s clash between the Springboks and the rejuvenated defending World Champions from England in the finals of the rugby World Cup. South Africa should be the heavy favorites, though Springbok coach Jake White, taking a page from the playbook of coaches the world over, insists his team must be seen as the underdogs.  

It is hard to believe that until very recently, White was so beleaguered that the rumors were rampant that he was on the verge of losing his job  with his successor all but chosen. It is hardly easy being the South African rugby coach. In addition to the pressure to win — very few national programs in any sport have fans that are are any more demanding than those who don the green and gold, and the fact that the country won the World Cup in 1995 is never far from the minds of fans or even players – White has to deal with the inevitable pressures of racial reconciliation, an especially tough task given the Springboks longstanding status as a symbol of white supremacy and a nexus of Afrikaner nationalism. 

White is well aware of these issues and the ways that they compound the expectations for victory:

“No other country comes close to resembling the South African scenario,” said White, who will be taking charge of his 53rd Test in the final against England on Saturday.“South Africa is the only country where if a winger is injured, you are obliged to change the prop (should the injured player be black or coloured).

“But I accept that as this is my country,” added White, who has rejuvenated the team since replacing Rudolf Straeuli after the debacle of the 2003 World Cup.

“The racial changes could be an immense bonus if they were well implemented,” said White.

“France has Serge Betsen, Thierry Dusautoir, Yannick Nyanga, who are selected on merit, England has Paul Sackey, Jason Robinson, again chosen on merit.

“These countries have a black minority. How can we, with 40 million blacks (85 percent of the population), justify a white team? If we are really being serious about making an effort, it’s impossible,” added White, who is likely to have just two coloured players in his starting line-up in wingers Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen in the final.White, though, said that all his players knew he did not racially discriminate when it came to selecting the starting XV.

“I’ve been lucky because I’ve had some of these players as juniors, and at Under-19 and Under-21 level (he coached South Africa to the Under-21 world title).

“They know me and know that I never want to be strong-armed into playing a guy because of the colour of his skin.

“That is a dreadful thing to do to a player. With me it’s a case of if you deserve to be in the starting XV or not. And the coloured players are aware of that.”

On that basis, the Springboks will have one more coloured player in their starting XV line-up on Saturday than their 1995 winning side, who only had winger Chester Williams.

That 1995 victory still resonates.

“Winning in 1995 was massive,” said White. “People asked me, when I was resting my players, and being very strict on conditioning: why are we putting so much emphasis into a World Cup?

“But people forget, 1995 changed everything in South Africa.

“It changed the country, the politics, the people. It didn’t last, true, we didn’t use it as a wonderful thing to carry on with.

“For that time, you wanted to make a movie, you couldn’t make it better: everything clicked on one day. And it only happened because of one rugby game.

“But rugby wise, 1995 did not serve us in a way, coming from isolation. Playing amongst us, we thought we had always been the best, and we came back, we won in 1995, so that was just confirming it.

“Had we lost, our coaches would have been going overseas, travelling the world, and seeing how to get better, to catch up.

“In 1999 we pushed the future world champions Australia into extra-time in the semis, lost at the death on a Stephen Larkham drop goal, so we could think we were still there.

“The big realisation that we weren’t who we thought we were, was 2003 (South Africa lost to New Zealand in the quarterfinals).

“And we’re lucky we have a second chance, that’s what I said to the players.”

South Africa deserves to be the favorites coming into this game. They have pummeled England three times this year, including once in the Pool round of this tournament.  The Springboks will have to handle the pressure that comes with being favorites and with representing South African rugby. The whole country is behind them — even the country’s Premier Soccer League is adjusting the schedule of its game so that fans and players of the country’s most popular sport will be able to watch the World Cup Final.

I’ll write more about rugby in the run-up to the game, but I continue to believe that the Springboks are the best team in the world. They play a bruising, brutal style that is especially well suited for World Cup play, they are more talented than their British counterparts, and they have beaten the defending champs and scored nearly 150 points in three games this year. It is customary for people like me to predict close games in situations such as this. And a close match may well happen. But I still foresee a blowout. My viewpoint may change, but as of right now I’d predict that South Africa wins going away, 36-14.

Amobokoboko! 

After a crazy weekend of upsets in the Rugby World Cup in which England defeated Australia 12-10 and France, riding a wave of host’s emotion stunned the All Blacks 20-18 the Boks find themselves as tournament favorites. South Africa earned their trip to the semis by defeating a game Fiji squad 37-20, which, though the widest margin in the quarterfinals was far closer than the final tlaly indicates. At one point Fiji tied the Springboks 20-20. South Africa will play Argentina, which defeated Scotland 19-13.  The Argentines have already beaten France in the tournament’s opening match and will be looking to show the world that they belong in the conversation with the SANZAR teams when it comes to a discussion of Southern Hemisphere rugby.

It’s safe to say that no one saw this series of semifinal matchups coming when the tournament began.  England has been reeling all year and South Africa walloped the defending champions 36-0 in the pool stages to go with two even sounder thrashings earlier in the year. Most observers knew that France would be tough as the host team, but once they finished behind France it put them on a collision course with New Zealand in a match that no one anticipated turning out as it did. Not a lot of folks pegged Argentina to make it this far. Only South Africa among the semifinalists was a pre-tournament favorite to make it this far.  

It will be interesting to see how comfortably South Africa wears the favorite’s crown this weekend. But as of right now, Amabokoboko look to be on a collision course with another RWC final and a shot to take home another Webb Ellis trophy. This one will be seen as a far less politicized victory than the last, in 1995, when Madiba Magic was seen as carrying Joel Stransky’s injury-time kick into history. But that depoliticized climate (well, relatively — nothing is entirely apolitical in South Africa) is, in so many ways, exactly most would have dreamed for the country a decade-and-a-half ago.  

The Springboks mashed the USA Eagles 64-15 in each team’s final first round matchup at the Rugby World Cup in France. South Africa finished atop Pool A and will face unfamiliar foe Fiji in theis first knockout round fixture next weekend. The Americans played scrappy, defiant rugby, but were simply outclassed by a South African team that looks determined to hoist the Webb Ellis Cup later this month.

In case you missed it, the Springboks gave England a sound thrashing on Friday, running away from the defending world champions by a humiliating 36-0 tally.

Next up is a surprisingly game Tonga squad, which upset Samoa and has caused South African coach Jake White to rethink his approach to selection for Saturday’s match. The Springboks look as good as anyone in this tourney and are almost assured of moving on to the playoff rounds and much stiffer competition, though before that should come an evisceration of the US Eagles.

If’s a busy news cycle right now in Southern Africa. here are a number of stories that caught my eye in today’s chock-full Mail & Guardian and elsewhere:

As the thirteith anniversary of the murder of Steven Bantu Biko at the hands of the security forces approaches different South Africans remember Biko’s life and death differently.

the Zimbabwe crisis continues unabated. The economic calamity has opened the door for corruption. Some maintain hopes  that South African-brokered talked will lead to a resolution of the political elements of the country’s conflicts, but it seems that  this may not be the time for whistling past the graveyard.

Meanwhile, transformation isn’t always easy. Members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) are up in arms over the Tshwane metropolitan council’s reported ban on white businesses. If the allegations are accurate, the DA would certainly seem to have a case that they will bring before the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile in a  pronouncement that is likely to be equally tendentious, the Black Management Forum  (BMF)  has argued that white women should be removed from the list of groups previously disadvantaged ”in terms of . . . employment equity legislation.” It is a bit hard for white women who benefitted in every imaginable way from apartheid suddenly stepping forward to claim their lots alongside the black South Africans on whose backs the Apartheid system built white privilege.

Finally, the M&G’s longtime rugby columnist Andrew Capostagno has a nifty piece on how this Rugby World Cup represents a “big chance” for the Springboks. He concludes his historically astute article by arguing that if the Boks achieve their considerable promise and “Win this one” South Africans “can forget, for a long, glorious moment, about politics.”