AS far back as one can remember, English-speaking South Africans have been called “Rooinekke”. In turn, white Afrikaans-speaking South Africans are often referred to as “Rock Spiders”.
The origins obviously date back to the Anglo-Boer War when the harsh South African sun took its toll on lily white Pommy skin while the tanned Boers hopped about the rocks like spiders taking potshots at them.
Of course, there were a few more derogatory names bandied about in schooldays like “Soutp…”. Wiktionary: “(Vulgar, army slang) – A South African with English/British heritage. So named for having one foot in South Africa, one foot in Britain and his penis dangling in the Atlantic.”
Now here’s the funny thing. Those ‘insults’ have evolved into friendly ‘joshing’ for most English and Afrikaans compatriots. In my case, they are openly used to poke fun at one another in a WhatsApp group of old school buddies nearly 45 years after we parted ways.
The messages are all in a curious mixture of English and Afrikaans from guys with names ranging from Hilton, Norman and Bevis to Koos, Bom and Naas. Our ancestors were killing each other 116 years ago, now we’ve moved on and we’re laughing with (not at) each other over our different heritages. Go figure!
But it has taken a lot of pain and suffering to get to that point and there was certainly an element of malice intended at some stage, especially at the predominantly Afrikaans school I attended. The only explanation one can offer for the turnaround is that we have all grown up.
Perhaps that is what we need to do as a country now, especially from a racial point of view. There are signs that it is already happening with some Indian citizens even jokingly referring to themselves as “Charous”.
The better comedians like Trevor Noah and Riaad Moosa (those who don’t rely on vulgarity for laughs) constantly get us to see the funny sides of our rich and diverse citizenry.
The key is to accept that we may all have different ancestors, languages and looks, but we are really equal as human beings living in a magnificent country that could be the envy of the world. All it takes is respect for each other and a really good sense of humour.
The ‘K’ word is so ugly, abhorrent and hurtful right now that few writers even dare to spell it out. But who knows? Maybe our great, great, great grandchildren will eventually be able to laugh about it together.
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