Cry the Beloved Country

Watching the rugby South African v Ireland game played in Port Elizabeth today I was struck, as I always am, at the apparent normality of the crowd, mainly white people who live their lives in a dissembling country where the rule of law and order, even within the parliament, is breaking down. Crime is rampant, and as a group the white minority are seen as the arbiters of past hurt, the architects of the shanty towns and the lack of services in the areas where the majority live.


They watch the game and wonder if their car will be there when they leave to ground. They might even worry if they left the kitchen window open and especially the fear antenna works overtime when they walk down the road and a group of young black men are in their path.
Of course so many are trapped and can't leave, a few are so rich and live in such spender that to leave would mean such a drop in their standard of living that the fear is balanced with high walls and careful planning when they venture out.
The economy is tanking and poor management, in part brought about by Black Empowerment, has brought much of the countries infrastructure into a third world state. The cost of investment to reinvigorate this infrastructure is probably beyond the tax receipts and therefore the gradual dissembling of values as the weeds poke through the cracks and repairs are postponed for another budget period.
When I watch the crowd the same crowd of people who I knew as confident assertive go getters, I wonder at their psyche today. As they play second fiddle, at least politically and see the clowns take over. Is the game a last remnant of what was normality. Even the Boks are a pale shade of their past strength and glory and the mighty Springbok seem 'merely human, !!