Treason

There was nothing unusual about the news. Murders, theft, fraud, arson, bumbling, bungling, blustering politicians and all that makes South Africa a great country to live in.

Then, unspeakable horror, a political advertisement featuring a burning national flag. I fell into a dead faint and only the crashing of gunshots exchanged between local, rival drug gangs roused me. I stumbled to my feet, muttering dazedly: 'Treason'. Then for good measure, I quoted a dimly remembered verse from Hamlet:

"Treachery! Lock the doors! Seek it out!"

"How did that make you feel?" my psychiatrist asked, at our session the next day. 

I shuddered. 

"I've seen people burn the flag during a service delivery protest. I saw a tattered flag hanging from a government building. That was disquieting, but this...." 

I had to have a sip of bottled water, before I could continue. My psychiatrist noted it - for the bill.

"There was something so deeply disturbing about the whole thing. Almost satanic. I fully expected John Steenhuisen to break into eerie chanting, backed by a sinister choir of DA voices."

As I had already shuddered once, I sighed.

"Are you not overreacting just a little? After all, it was a digital image, not a real flag. And it was all a metaphor for renewal from ruin and decay."

"Metaphor, schmetaphor!" I yelled, pounding a cushion. "Did you not read what our president said?"

'The burning of the National Flag in a political advertisement is treasonous. The National Flag is a sacred symbol of our unity and existence as a nation and to burn it is despicable. 

Any organisation that commits such an act, especially in the name of political expediency, is an organisation that seeks to destroy our country, that seeks to destroy our country’s unity and collective identity. People died for the National Flag. South Africans rally everyday around the National Flag.'

"Even as we speak",  I told the good doctor.  "I feel our national unity unraveling. And it was so solid. No more holding hands around the campfire, singing Kumbaya. Now people will be calling one another names on social media "

I buried my head in my hands, stifling a sob.

"I can see it already. People will come up with vile slogans like 'Kill the Boer' and 'One Settler, One Bullet'. Our collective identity is in its moer."

The tweet below, by a PhD titled person, merely deepened my depression.

'The @Our_DA is now showing & celebrating the burning of the South African Flag as part of their election campaign because they yearn for the old apartheid flag that symbolises apartheid.

They are suffering from the Swart Gevaar syndrome.
#VoetsekDA'

That's not quite what happened in the advertisement that I watched. There must be another that this good doctor viewed.

Very perceptive to have detected that subtly hidden yearning for the old apartheid flag. I would have missed that. Ah, the advantages of a good, solid, lengthy education.

I looked up the meaning of treason in law.

'Treason is the act of attempting to overthrow a government or harm a sovereign, usually by a citizen of the country whose government they are trying to compromise. This can be done by waging war against the state or by materially aiding its enemies'.

Yes, I have to say that using a burning flag, (which is later renewed), as a metaphor for the burning need for rescue and renewal of the country does fit that definition perfectly. 

In truth, one could even replace that definition with the description of that dark, dastardly deed by the DA.

 A pity that the death penalty is most unlikely to be reinstated. On the brighter side, corporal punishment will be reintroduced once Mr Zuma again grasps the sceptre of power. (And who doubts that he will indeed do so?).

A bit of public whipping under the flag will surely discourage digital flag burning and similar outrages. It would also restore our unity and collective identity.

I feel better already.

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

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