Thank you, Rassie, Springboks and Siya

Let’s be honest, there’s very little to celebrate for us as South Africans, at the moment.

The Madlanga commission might expose the rot and lead to arrests, but it is tragic when thinking about the wholesale corruption that has taken hold of the very institutions that are supposed to maintain law and order.

Similarly, in the lead up to local government elections, only a blind, comatose person would be unable to tell how far our municipalities have fallen, nationally.

Spring Day, a day meant to be a day of joy, marking the end of winter, turned to tragedy as the youth of our townships turned a fun tradition into a tragedy, as a youngster lost his life, all because buckets of water were emptied into busses, taxis and onto people coming home from a hard day of work. 

The South African rand is strong against the US dollar but the war in the Middle East causes us to hemorrhage at the diesel as well as the petrol pumps and as a result, when buying basic necessities. 

More than a third of this country are unemployed and speaking from recent experience, which resonates with most of you reading this, crime is on the increase.

But if there is one thing that can unite and bring joy to us South Africans, it is our back-to back, four-time world championship, national rugby team! The Springboks gave South African some respite from all our woes by taking the lead in the Greatest Rivalry Tour against the All Blacks.

After being level at half time, with each side having 12 points on the scoreboard, the Springboks edged a 29 to 24 win against the All Blacks. It was a hard-fought battle and as I always say, South Africa plays an ugly, messy brand of rugby but overall, it works. And so, it did on September 5, 2026, at FNB Stadium. 

Despite their size, pace and the culturally deep and significant Haka, the All Blacks play a fluid and poetic brand of rugby that relies very little on contact but rather, on keeping the ball alive. We, as South Africans, play skop en donder rugby — ugly, messy and very physical, with a serious reliance on the set-piece. Chalk and cheese in the rugby world and technically, we always play with the handicap. 

But on Saturday, for one-and-a-half hours, we collectively felt a euphoria, politicians, the Proteas or Bafana Bafana could not give this nation. So, thank you Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks and Siya Kolisi for making us feel good amid all the kak we have to deal with!

Unless you have your head in the sand, Rassie’s entire philosophy is based on the idea of the players playing for country and family. They are not on the field for their own glory but they are there for everyone else. Despite playing club rugby until the ripe old age of 37 years and being put out of commission by a slipped spinal disc and fractured foot in my final season, one life-lesson that stuck with me throughout my years of playing rugby is that you play for the man (person) next to you and not yourself.

If only our politicians, public servants and captains of industry understood that philosophy! If only we operated with that philosophy in mind as a nation!

So, thank you Rassie, Springboks and Siya for reminding us of what selflessness can look like. Hopefully that philosophy makes us believe once more as you lift the Webb Ellis Trophy a third time on the trot, a world first! 

But, I guess, let’s beat the All blacks in Baltimore, in the US first. And keep on believing. 

Advocate Gushwell F Brooks is a South Africa High Court advocate, human rights expert and media personality who previously served as the head of Mandela Day for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.