Rugby vs. politics: Springboks’ win exposes SA’s real leaders

Dear South African politicians. There is a broader truth to this verse, quite apart from the context in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on…”

Politicians do not understand that. Rassie Erasmus, Siya Kolisi and the Springboks do. How, then, can you lead a country hungry for significance and success?

You showed up at the final for photo opportunities. Kolisi and his men showed up week after week for their country. For us. You do not understand what happened on Saturday night.

You see, the All Blacks, worthy opponents that they were, were only the personification of our real opposition: the division you have sown in our country, the hatred, the racism. The lie that we are not a nation worthy of your best efforts.

ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: It’s all fun and Rugby games until Ramaphosa hogs the ball

That we are not to hope and dream as other people do. But only with your permission and approval. That we are to stay within the dark, narrow lanes of your stunted imagination.

But on the field of dreams, our team kept alive our bruised, battered hopes and dreams. We so desperately had to win. We were a people perishing for want of vision, as the Good Book says.

You do not understand the heart of South Africa.

We love our country.

We love our people.

ALSO READ: Springboks’ heroic win and SA’s power crisis: A tale of two realities

How could you understand that when you dwell in the dark places of selfishness, self-centredness, greed and a ravening hunger for power? Are these not the parents of that hideous progeny called state capture, conceived in the heat of such lusts? The heart is first captured.

When you had given your hearts over to lust, how could you do otherwise?

“This team just shows what you can do. As soon as we work together, all is possible, no matter in what sphere – in the field, in offices, it shows what we can do…”

So said captain, Kolisi.

ALSO READ: Siya Kolisi applauded for his message to Ramaphosa and Cabinet

Is this what you politicians fear? Kolisi went on to say something to the effect that we need to take this spirit and belief beyond the rugby field. So, to every opportunistic, power-hungry politician and all your cronies, South Africa says voetsek. We don’t need you. We are South Africa.

• Mann has been reading The Citizen since the early 2000s. He says in SA, the satire writes itself. He has a blog, The Scuffle Continues, and has written five satirical books on Amazon Kindle: Dear Mr Zuma, Dear Mr Malema, Dear Fellow South Africans, South Africa: Stranger Than Fiction and The New Dusk