The sun will rise. The sun will set. South African rugby will be fraught with controversy. Some assertions are truisms.
The latest kerfuffle over the transformation of South African rugby is a revival of the question of whether to remove the Springbok as the national program's emblem. For its critics, the Springbok is a symbol of white, and especially Afrikaner, supremacy and thus of Apartheid. For others, keeping the Springbok represents transformation at its best, an appropriation of a once racist symbol to represent the New South Africa.
The latest salvo comes from the legendary political activist and rugby star Cheeky Watson, whose son Luke's placement on the Springbok team was controversial and appears to be over. Watson has asserted publicly that the Springbok has to go. Of course Watson also represents a father scorned, and he is also considering legal action on behalf of his son, who also is alleged to have spoken harshly about the Springbok symbol, so the personal and political intersect in this case.
Symbols are vitally important in South Africa. And transformation is still in its early stages. SA rugby reveals the nature of resistance to change even as it slowly lurches toward change on the pitch. Nelson Mandela was able to embrace the Springbok mascot. So too could millions of South Africans (indeed, the ANC has thrown its weight behind maintaining the mascot) if only those who want to maintain the mascot would yield in those areas that truly matter.
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