Apartheid In South Africa

Nelson Mandela once said “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.” Nelson Mandela said this because he experienced it firsthand in his and South Africa’s battle against apartheid. Apartheid holds a sad and disgraceful role in the history of South Africa. Apartheid led to the death of many innocent people. “Apartheid, which means the state of being apart, was the national system of racial segregation in South Africa in which the rights of the majority black inhabitants were diminished. At the same time the rights of the minority white inhabitants were maintained. It’s life span lasted from 1948-1994. (Overcoming Apartheid).” Apartheid was very similar to segregation in the United States, schools, neighborhoods, restaurants, and even sporting events were segregated. “One of the reasons for the being of apartheid was that the powerful Afrikaans thought it was God’s will for the blacks and whites in South Africa to be segregated. (Bestall).”

The oppressors in South Africa were the Afrikaans people, descendants of the Dutch settlers who colonized South Africa. History has a tendency to repeat itself and the excuse of God’s will is seen many times throughout history. The Afrikaans used this rationalization because during colonial times it was a legitimate excuse but as the world began to modernize it was not .

“Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times under Dutch rule. Apartheid as an official...

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...y was a game for rich white people. If blacks went to a rugby game they had to stand or sit in the worst seats (Black).” Whenever the Springbok were playing, black South Africans would cheer against them and hope that team members would get physically injured. They watched opponents do to the Springbok what the oppressed blacks wished they could do to them. The springbok represented the system that jailed Mandela and many innocent people. “The 16th Man”, and ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about rugby and apartheid, tells the story of how a black man murdered a policeman during a riot. The judged ordered the murderer and 14 other people to death, even though those 14 people were innocent. The springbok represented this corruption in the justice system. It was not until the 1995 Rugby World Cup that the first black man, Chester Williams, became a member of the Springbok.