Yoh, Siwelele

Urbanjodi
Urbanjodi
Nov 2 · 3 min read

PSA: From now on “iyoh haaa haaa, yoh siwelele” replaces “ole ole” guys.

Not long ago the first black players on the Springboks were ostracized by mainly white fans, and some players refused to even throw them the ball.

Today, we were lead by Siyamthanda Kolisi, a black man who the whole nation sees as a legitimate sportsman and leader.

Siya Kolisi’s words when being interviewed on TV immediately after the match.

Makazole Mapimpi, another black man, scored the first ever try by SA in a RWC final forever putting the “fok kwota” squad to silence. Just in case black excellence needed to be proven twice, Cheslin Kolbe, followed with the second ever try by SA in a RWC final. Cheslin’s own father had played in a rugby league as part of anti-apartheid sports movements, using sports to strengthen black and coloured solidarity, and as a vehicle through which to legally gather and organise.

Transformation is far too slow, and painful, and today’s rugby results won’t fix Eskom or unemployment or gender based violence. But it showed what’s possible when we are together, when there’s a shared goal, when we are lead by the strongest.

We can hold in mind truths about enduring inequality, lack of investment in black youth, the danger of the rags-to-riches myth, the problematic ways colonial schools select black excellence for their own gain, the risks of even momentarily suspending work and pegging our hopes on a game, and all the rest.

We can do this while still celebrating that today a diverse team collaborated and won. Today, black children are watching a sport that for decades was associated with the worst of racist whites, and seeing it as their own. What else can we show black children IS their own?

Today, amaGwijo was sung in the stadium of a World Cup Final in Japan, and in fan parks around the country. Words of strength and togetherness born of the Eastern Cape reclaimed a colonial and apartheid sport, and reverberated around a world breaking with division.

Happiness does not describe the emotions South Africans have today. It’s pain, mourning, fear, relief, release, hope, celebration all rolled into one.

Lets not waste the power of that emotion by pretending it was just happiness and that we don’t have issues to work on, or by judging each other for celebrating small and slow steps. That’s a powerful set of emotions. Let’s use them to fuel the fire for change and transformation we only got a glimpse of today.

Here’s #SiyaKolisi singing about leaving his parents to play rugby, with “yoh siwelele (we are together / togetherness) in celebration:

Thanks to the Gwijo Squad for this lesson:

#igwijo #gwijosquad #siwelele #togetherness

Urbanjodi

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Urbanjodi

Archive of thoughts. Imperfect, incomplete and not assumed to be my final position. My actions speak louder than my words. Learn more: https://jodi.city

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