A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Not worth stewing over Tom Curry, we have our own hold-ups to overcome

There will be a lot of mumbling this weekend.

Mumbling at how long the queue is at the shops. Mumbling why the braai is taking so long, and mumbling through the parts of the national anthem we don’t really know when the Springboks line up against New Zealand.

But it was something slightly louder than a mumble that sparked a sporting storm this week. England rugby player Tom Curry alleged he was called a “white c**t” by Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi in last weekend’s Rugby World Cup clash.

The fiasco over the alleged comment, which some have guessed may have come from Mbonambi speaking Afrikaans and referring to a side of the pitch, dragged on until less than 60 hours before kick-off in the final. On Thursday, World Rugby announced it had looked into the alleged “use of discriminatory language” by Mbonambi and found there was “insufficient evidence”.

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It was not enough for the English media who declared a witch hunt on the week of Halloween. While the crusade continues, it holds a strong lesson for South Africa on how to back your own. Too often we have been caught praising the opposition and giving them a pass, only for it to come back to bite us.

The test at Ellis Park last year was a prime example of us respecting a wounded All Blacks too much, and paying the price for it.

The All Blacks have always played their best rugby when their backs are against the wall, so it is encouraging to see over the last few days that many Boks players were focused on themselves and the team rather than the opposition.

Hold up!

Besides, we have bigger issues to worry about as a nation, like actual hold-ups.

While the world was debating whether Curry should ask Google Translate to help understand what was said on the field, more than 500 miners were being held at Gold One mine in Springs, Eastern Johannesburg.

Reports alleged Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) members welded entry and exit points to the mine shut, holding the miners hostage. The union denied this, saying the decision to stay underground was “voluntary”.

When the Netflix-quality drama subsided with the dust, it was speculated production loss could amount to several million Rand.

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Debating the semantics of what to call the fiasco cannot mask that it was the SA economy that was being held hostage in the mine, with the effects likely far-reaching.

It cannot be undone, like the KZN government’s decision on Wednesday to withdraw its controversial sponsorship and hosting of the SA Music Awards next month. President Cyril Ramaphosa stepped in on that decision because government should be watching its spending, not playing Santa Claus in October.

His government was, however, too slow to step in at the mine; which could lead to more mumbles, moans, and anguish when the economic effects finally come to the surface.