Race divide laid bare by anthem blunder aftermath

IF THERE is anything that the aftermath of the fumbling of the national anthem by Afrikaans singer Kurt Darren has shown, it is that we remain a nation divided along racial lines.

It was not surprising at all, however. Of late, the debate on land reform has come to show how the reconciliation project spearheaded by Nelson Mandela is derailing, amid heightened racial tensions.

The rhetoric by our politicians ahead of the May 8 elections is also not helping unite us as a nation.

There is no question that the fumbling of a national anthem – whether by mistake or deliberately – should not be acceptable.

A national anthem is an important symbol of pride for any nation. It represents, among other things, the history, traditions and beliefs of a nation. It helps evoke feelings of patriotism among citizens.

In our case as South Africa, our national anthem combines Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem / The Call of

South Africa. Before 1994, Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika was adopted as an anthem at political meetings and was sung as an act of defiance during apartheid years, while Die Stem, on the other hand, was the official national anthem of South Africa as of May 1957.

It was in the wisdom of the forebears of our democracy that they combined the two anthems – one that represents a fight against apartheid and one that has come to symbolise the brutal regime – to foster unity among us.

However, there has been resistance from both sides of the divide to learn the parts of the anthem that are not sung in one’s language. Moreover, there has been little effort on the part of our government to institutionalise our national anthem and educate the populace about its meaning.

As soon as Darren wrecked the anthem, many of us accused him of racism, given that this also happened at a predominantly white event – the Varsity Cup finals – in Stellenbosch.

We conveniently forgot that it was a black man, one Ras Dumisani, who mauled our anthem before a Springboks and France match in 2009. In 2011, during the Springbok World Cup team announcement, Ard Matthews also fumbled parts of the anthem.

Dumisani, Matthews and Darren remind us that many among us don’t take the anthem seriously, which underscores the importance of deepening its institutionalisation.