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A sports tournament that has been taking place in Limpopo for the last 30 years is being investigated by parliament and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to figure out if it is even legal.
Known as Bokkie Week, the Afrikaner-only event is held by the non-profit, Afrikaner Volkseie Sport (AVS), has been hosting netball, hockey, and rugby games for the past three decades. Recently, however, controversy erupted when the participating children sang the apartheid-era national anthem, and teams competed under the names of former apartheid provinces with the old national flag.
Sports law expert and dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria, Professor Steve Cornelius, said that this case is more complicated than simply looking at the letter of the law and, while Section 31 of the Constitution allows for cultural communities to hold events unique to their culture, this boils down to intention.
He argued that rugby, hockey, and netball are not culturally exclusive or culturally expressive sports, like stick fighting or jukskei, saying, “The question, of course, could be whether the way that it is done is in the spirit of what is intended in the Constitution. You can’t even claim that then as a cultural expression to say that rugby is part of Afrikaner culture, because that is English culture. Yes, we love our story… but it’s not necessarily that you’re expressing your culture by participating in that”.
Of course, he also brought into question the use of the old provincial colours and the singing of the national anthem, and expressed concerns about the display of the old South African flag, which has been deemed akin to hate speech due to its association with apartheid. “It’s almost as if it’s clutching at things of an apartheid era and that have moved on,” he said.
There is also the potential impact this could have on young, impressionable children who may be influenced by these symbols. To this, he said, “One could ask the question, are you acting in the best interest of the child?… Doing things like that is adults making decisions based on their preferences that I am sure is not in the best interest of the child if they do that”.
Celebrating culture is one thing, but when it includes the use of hateful symbols of the past, it was always going to be controversial.
[Source: Eyewitness News]
