LANCE CLAASEN | Boks’ Rugby World Cup victory shows transformation works

The 2023 World Cup final, on a cold rainy Parisian night, answered a series of questions that are core to the South African identity.

Are we just different people, brought together by an accident of birth, united by a fading dream of the rainbow nation? Is it possible to overcome differences of upbringing, with viewpoints so divergent, that winning a sporting trophy will paper over the cracks that lie like a fault in the clashing tectonic plates that make up SA?

A united, representative team is the best version of SA. Who can imagine South African rugby without the magnanimous Siya Kolisi or the wily Rassie Erasmus? The bulldozing Ox Nche, or the ever-tackling Pieter-Steph du Toit. And those who would couple the word quota to every loss are now quiet at the sight of integrated victory because their version of SA could never win the World Cup.

Rugby is no longer a white sport but a South African sport portraying the best of sportsmanlike values. In rugby, there are no names on the back of jerseys, only numbers. This is not an accident. An individual player is the custodian of the jersey and not its owner.

For no-one is bigger than the team. The losing and the winning team clap each other off the field. You respect the ref. You play for your mates, selfishness is frowned upon, and respect for opponents is expected along with a drink after the game.

For SA it is much more than winning a trophy, with every township lighting up at the sign of victory. And everybody, I mean everybody, loves Kolisi. He has shown that leadership matters. Clear, concise values make a difference.

In a country that can be bruising and brutal, his words, insights and messages act as balm to the callous, cynical nature of the collective wounds we all carry. Kolisi and the team he leads have become more than rugby. They are more than Nelson Mandela’s Rainbow Nation dream. They are practical examples of how South Africans can live and thrive together.

This template of leadership and team play has to filter to every nook or corner, for SA to succeed. We have to reclaim our values and put forward leaders unafraid to live by these values no matter the cost.

That is why we cannot retreat back into our corners of prejudice.

South Africans are not tough because we are born to be tough; we are forced to be tough. This sense of resolve has been forced upon South Africans by circumstances that are not right and should not be normalised. It is good for South Africans to have this level of fortitude in conquering their problems but unlike a rugby game there will be no final whistle for us to savour a one-point victory.

The challenges we face are so vast, so enormous, so much so that there are YouTube videos, by a number of commentators, predicting the collapse of SA. While their analysis is sound, they are forgetting about the resolve of South Africans to get it together.They forget we have overcome worse, confronted our demons and continue to challenge each other to be better and do better.

Perhaps those who predict SA’s collapse should look at videos made by women from across the continent who now call SA home. They praise SA for its organisation, its free healthcare system, high levels of education and the fact that politicians respond to the needs and protests of citizens. They praise South Africans as opinionated, confident people, and envy the fact that South Africans will not leave their country but insist on staying to fix it.

• Claasen is RISE fm station manager