Monday Milestone: Apartheid

 "After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb”
– Nelson Mandela

This Week in History:
1992,  March 18
South Africans vote overwhelmingly for an end to the Apartheid policy, uniting a nation, distancing the country from the old racist policies and ushering in a new era in South African history.

Racism sucks.
The dream of not being judged by the colour of one’s skin but by the content of one’s character often seems further away than ever in a world that shrinks further with each technological advance. Granted over the last half-century we have seen sweeping improvements in many places across the globe, but often there is still a long way to go…

This week the Milestone commemorates twenty years since the South African people voted for the removal of Apartheid, the racist policy founded on an absurd notion that South Africa was not in fact a single nation, instead four groups (native, white, coloured and Asian). That it could not be united.

For some races Apartheid was truly horrific. Death, destruction, segregation, devastation, based solely on skin colour. The Sharpeville Massacre. The Soweto Uprising.  International condemnation and trade sanctions. It divided and almost destroyed southern Africa in what was a push from power hungry white supremacists. It took liberties and lives. But for sports fans, it took opportunity. With the South African sporting ban on the world stage, what did we miss out on?

South Africa were not welcome at the Olympic Games from 1964-1988 so hundreds of stories of athletes were never told. Football too, immensely popular in South Africa, but Apartheid removed any opportunity of competing at the World Cup. Would Tony Greig still have played for England? What about Kepler Wessels for Australia? So many question marks litter a sporting generation.

For three decades Apartheid inhibited the country. But by the early 1990s the political landscape had shifted. The Cold War was over. The Wall had fallen. The Soviet Union was dismantling.  In South Africa, Nelson Mandela walked free, after 27 years on Robbin Island, a symbol of the end of Apartheid. It seemed South Africans had begun the long road of trusting the heart of a man rather than the look of him. And with it they returned to the sporting stage.

Remember Brian McMillan’s bewilderment during the 1992 World Cup as the South African cricket team suddenly needed 22 runs from 1 ball to win their semi final? President Nelson Mandela all smiles symbolically in a South African jersey as the Springboks won the 1995 Rugby World Cup – a performance that ushered in a New South Africa? Or more recently – the vuvuzelas in the crowd at the 2010 FIFA World Cup?  

Had Apartheid endured, none of this would have been possible.

These sporting heroics would have instead been replaced by greater bloodshed and further ongoing political violence. It should be heartening. Yet still twenty years after the introduction of the Rainbow Nation, enduring themes of Apartheid still linger with the ongoing political instability in South Africa today, fuelled by racial undertones. Add to that the health of Nelson Mandela is fading and with it South African unity. He once lessened the impact of racism in South Africa.

But without him, a turbulent future lies ahead.

 

The Milestone Five: Most prominent moments in South African sport since the ending of Apartheid.

5. Penny Heyns wins gold medals in the 100m and 200m breast stroke events at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She was the first post-Apartheid gold medallist.  

4. South Africa’s 1992 re-introduction to world cricket through the World Cup ends in disaster as the run target for the tail enders at the crease is suddenly revised to 22 runs from 1 ball.

3. South Africa hosts the 2010 FIFA World Cup amid the sounds of vuvuzelas, some great football, Paul the Octopus and more.

2. Allan Donald has a brain explosion, taking off for an unnecessary single during the 1999 World Cup semi final only to be run out. The match was a tie, and Australia advanced.

1. Nelson Mandela is all smiles in a Springboks jersey as president while South Africa hosts and wins the Rugby World Cup in 1995

 

With thanks to Chris Jackson/Getty Images Europe for the picture