Watching Bafana last night amble their way listlessly to the accustomed thrashing, this came to mind. Bafana are a truly South African soccer team.
They represent so much of what makes us such an interesting country. Has coach Hugo Broos explained to the team that soccer, at its most fundamental, is about scoring goals? And keeping them out at your end?
We expect the same of our government. A layman's take on some of those goals: to build a safe country where people can hope, dream, do. Do their best and give of their best for their communities, their country, their continent and ultimately their world.
In winning countries, people build, contribute, create (the tangible and the intangible). In losing countries, people destroy, burn and break. Three guesses as to which team category we fall into. Bafana failed us last night. Our government fails us dismally daily.
Bafana fiddled in the middle and often seemed at a loss as to what to do differently. Sound familiar? Our government and our politicians also fiddle, like Nero, passing around insults threats, and hopelessly improbable promises. The goal posts stand desolate, a long way off.
A commentator praised our diski skills, so often on display in the PSL (before Bafana started to implode). That is the problem. We need to play football not diski. This is not the Premier League. This is the African Cup of Nations. Dear politicians, you too, in your limited imaginations, are stuck in a little league. Flashes of diski in the international arena and on other stages do not score goals. It's a much bigger competition that we are playing in. There's much more at stake. Think survival think national security in its broadest sense, think generations to come.
The ball skills of our players are, at least, a joy to behold. Your diski, political people, is the most unattractive, useless thing to behold.
The name Bafana is a most unfortunate one. Perhaps a dreary, self-fulfilling prophecy. Our team is indeed like a bunch of boys who have wandered into the big pitch where adults play. Ditto for our government.
Our contribution to Africa and the world should be much, much more than dining out on the glories of struggles past. "The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on..." (Omar Khayyàm). Bafana lack urgency, passion and ideas. So too, do our government and politicians. Mr Broos, please teach the team that they need to do things differently when pushing the ball around the middle, the back and back to the goalkeeper is not working. It's too late to teach our government that. Pushing the clichès, slogans, insults and blame around is all that they have done their entire, inconsequential political lives. We need a new team now.
Our defense in both games is caught napping often. One can mention last night's game, the 2021 unrest, chaos at the borders and much more. To quote someone, 'we never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity'. We also never miss an opportunity to stuff it up. Last night's missed penalty and almost 30 years of squandered opportunity attest. We are starved of goals. At least where Bafana are concerned they are able to show off some sparkling ball skills. With each attempt at showing off their diski skills, our politicians sink deeper into a morass of incompetence, corruption and buffoonery.
We the people of South Africa are choked with disappointment, frustration and the anger that follows betrayal . We don't need substitutions. We need a team that understands the game and can actually play. One of our PSL teams is fondly nicknamed Abafana bes'Thende (very loosely, 'boys of the heel'), in praise of their skills. Should we not fondly nickname you politicians Abafana beSisu (boys of the stomach), in praise of your skills?
Many, many of you politicians do not belong on the pitch. Time to hang up your muddy boots.
I've seen calls on social media for you all to f..k off. So rude. I'd suggest that you all quietly piss off, instead.
Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted
Tymebank , South Africa
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O Tichmann
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