Is it time to lose the Springbok?
I share our national passion for Rugby and admiration for our mighty Springboks. It's not rugby or transformation that I am talking about here - it is the symbol and ethos of that little Springbok emblem that I am concerned with, and I'll tell you why.
Several times, over the last decade, the subject of removing the little springbok badge as an emblem of our National rugby team has arisen - I have been one of the fiercest critics against it.
It was an incident away from our shores that has made me rethink my position.
Last week, UK parliamentary member Joanne Cox was gunned down, stabbed and murdered by British National Thomas Mair... 'allegedly'.
Then, as investigations into the man and his history began, it emerged that Thomas Mair was named as a supporter in an online publication of 'The Springbok Club', an organisation which has defended the white supremacist apartheid regime in the old South Africa.
The fact that he was a member of a far right nut-job organization is of no concern. What is worrying, is that those who are racist and altogether unstable believe that the 'Springbok' is a symbol of their solidarity with white supremacy and segregation.
That does not sit well with me.
People who believe in this, I doubt, could be bargained with to relinquish our symbol. It's not like we could say to them; "Don't you guys rather want to use another symbol for your little whites-only group of haters? Perhaps an animal that is already extinct. Why not the Dodo or the Kwagga?"
No, they are as unlikely to leave our iconography alone as they are to stop being bigots.
So, if we as a proud country, stand even the slightest risk that the impression of the Springbok Symbol stands for anything else, other than unity, and inspires anything less glorious than pride and dignity. Then, I'm sorry, it just might have to go where all embarrassing parts of history live - in dusty books and dark corners of little minds.
We are a New South Africa and I'm certain, as a united people, we can find a new symbol of our national pride. Leave that ever shrinking pool of racists and ignoramuses to cling desperately onto their historic symbols of fear and hate. Like the swastika in Germany and the confederate flag in the American South - what was once a symbol of nationalism and victory has become an empty visage of the small minded and the weak.
It was an incident away from our shores that has made me rethink my position.
Last week, UK parliamentary member Joanne Cox was gunned down, stabbed and murdered by British National Thomas Mair... 'allegedly'.
Then, as investigations into the man and his history began, it emerged that Thomas Mair was named as a supporter in an online publication of 'The Springbok Club', an organisation which has defended the white supremacist apartheid regime in the old South Africa.
The fact that he was a member of a far right nut-job organization is of no concern. What is worrying, is that those who are racist and altogether unstable believe that the 'Springbok' is a symbol of their solidarity with white supremacy and segregation.
That does not sit well with me.
People who believe in this, I doubt, could be bargained with to relinquish our symbol. It's not like we could say to them; "Don't you guys rather want to use another symbol for your little whites-only group of haters? Perhaps an animal that is already extinct. Why not the Dodo or the Kwagga?"
No, they are as unlikely to leave our iconography alone as they are to stop being bigots.
So, if we as a proud country, stand even the slightest risk that the impression of the Springbok Symbol stands for anything else, other than unity, and inspires anything less glorious than pride and dignity. Then, I'm sorry, it just might have to go where all embarrassing parts of history live - in dusty books and dark corners of little minds.
We are a New South Africa and I'm certain, as a united people, we can find a new symbol of our national pride. Leave that ever shrinking pool of racists and ignoramuses to cling desperately onto their historic symbols of fear and hate. Like the swastika in Germany and the confederate flag in the American South - what was once a symbol of nationalism and victory has become an empty visage of the small minded and the weak.
Why don't we just cut our losses and find a new badge of honour for all South Africans to embrace and rally behind? If we were to debate this very sensitive and highly polarising topic, this is where I would start.