President Thabo Mbeki says the name Bafana Bafana is unfit for the national soccer team. The president seems to think the name should carry with it the notion of a formidable foe, and ”boys boys” doesn’t quite do it.
Mbeki’s remarks may be valid, but they beg the question: why should the president concern himself with such matters? Very few people thought of the image of the national soccer team in the international arena when the name Bafana Bafana was chosen in a process of public participation. The fact is that the public was consulted and thus the name came about. If the politicians are now unhappy with the name chosen by the people, then one should perhaps reflect on why public opinion was entertained in the first place.
One lesson is that sport can also serve as an opiate for the masses. It’s great for the ruling party to get the nation celebrating a rugby victory and getting citizens hyped up about 2010 while the spectacular bungling over crime statistics, the integrity of the police commissioner and the reputation of the health minister should compete for public attention.
It’s wonderful that sport mania, through the means of corporate media, is gripping the popular imagination while the sports bosses, sponsors and politicians are seeing the revenue rolling in. What’s better than to get the whole country behind you at a time when, after the celebrations, the vast majority of people have to return to their poverty stricken and crime-ridden lives?
The slow pace of transformation in rugby and the gross inequity in stakeholder benefits for the vast majority of black South African entrepreneurs in the informal sector in 2010 is a clear indication that sport cannot be depoliticised. If the debate centres on only a name for a national team, you may be excused for ignoring other crucial issues.
However, the agenda here goes way beyond a debate on name changes. We are still an abnormal society struggling to play normal sport. It’s because we forget this too often that we buy into the corporate and political hype. It’s because we forget this too often that we get dazzled by rainbow colours and national symbols and the occasional surprise package like the president’s utterances on Bafana Bafana.
Our government has learned from Marie Antoinette. If there is no safety and security, give them sport.
Before Mbeki’s remarks, no one had raised any objections to the name, and if any commoner had, no one would have taken any notice. But if the president is talking sport, who are we to turn a deaf ear?
We cannot completely ignore the debate. It is not entirely without merit because sport should have a constructive, as opposed to a distractive, place in the lives of people. Bafana Bafana is both an established name and a term of endearment. Besides, it is more important to get ”the boys” to play better soccer than to quibble about their name. The development of the national soccer team is far more important than their name. A name change (alas!) will do nothing for the quality of the national squad.
However, if it can be shown that any other name, especially a uniform symbolism for all sports codes, can make sport more accessible to the poor and marginalised in our society, then the name-change debate will have greater merit than it does now.
And if we really want to focus on an appropriate name, we should consider reintroducing the Springboks for all sports codes in South Africa. The name can legitimately be depoliticised because, as a symbol depicting unique indigenous South African fauna, it can be separated from the historic institution of apartheid sport. Adopting the Springbok as a national sport symbol while engaging in genuine transformation, in especially rugby and cricket, will go a long way in support of much-needed reconciliation in our racially divided society. Above all, it is a truly powerful brand that already has a captive audience.
However, the name Springboks cannot easily be separated from the massive disparities between rich and poor in our country.
Just imagine a truly progressive and transformative sporting and social landscape in South Africa. Then imagine a national team named the Springboks. Is that too much to ask?
Mahmood Sanglay is a media activist in Cape Town