It’s been dubbed “anthemgate”. November 13 2009 the South African rugby team, affectionately known as the Springboks, is playing France at the Municipal Stadium in Toulouse and the stadium is packed. Both teams are lining up for the national anthems and I thought the French were quite the sportsmen as they were absolutely on attention for South Africa’s national anthem.
Enters Dumisani Ras, a South African with dual citizenship living in France. According to the Cape Times this morning he was hired by the South African foreign mission in France, while News24.com states that the Saru president sent a letter of complaint to the French Rugby Union claiming that they had hired Ras.
Anyway, that’s the point where things started to go sour for our Boks. And I think, as a nation, we feel extremely outraged. I mean, this is our national anthem, and normally people join in when it is played at sports gatherings. But this time I saw a lot of heads being bowed in shame and even the players were red in the face — I’m sure it was not due to the cold.
Our national symbols are supposed to be our pride but this blatant show of disregard is just too much for me. And seeing that the anthem is protected in the Constitution, this should constitute a crime.
Even though Oregon Hoskins complained to the Frenchies, I also blame Saru. Did they ensure the person who’s supposed to inspire our boys is really going to instil pride in them?
A couple of years ago all the national sports federations hired speech therapists to ensure the players were ready to go out there and heartily sing the national anthem. At one stage I remember Sarfu contemplating fining players who did not sing the anthem.
Our sports federations must employ someone to travel with our national teams to sing the anthem. They should ensure that such a person proves him/herself to be able to sing the anthem the way it is supposed to. That way we would have no Ras-surprise.
Once again, we should have pride in our national symbols and ensure they are protected, promoted and defended. For those who do not know our national symbols please check out http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/national-symbols.htm
An internationally-travelling, luxury hotel living, two-minute anthem-singer? Now THAT is a true gravy-train job! Where do I sign?
We should learn from it… During the World Cup we must absolutely ensure that there is quality artists singing anthems during the event.
As the hosts I blame France for the fiasco – I suggest we do not issue them visas for the World Cup until a proper apology is received.
(Suppose we cannot really do that… but still, some kind of retribution is in order!)
I think Ras Dumisani sang the National Anthem with passion. I dont have any problem with his singing. I think his version is more lively but his voice was sunken (perhaps due to prolonged dagga abuse). I also have a problem with his dancing to the Anthem. The Anthem is a solemn sung not meant for dancing. If the above two items can be corrected, I would like to see him perform the National Anthem again.
Any body who sings that flat should be shot! Preferably with very old tomatoes! In addition, the French should be sued for incompetence as they hung our beautiful flag UPSIDE DOWN!
The worst type of psychological warfare and we need to empower our lads against this low down French tactic. Perhaps next time we use the 1820 overture instead and remind them of what the Russians did to Napoleon?
How does 77% of people taking the poll on the MG homepage get to the complaint about this singing of the anthem being racist?Maybe we can even trace it back to the racist Afrikaners and there system of apartheid.life is so simple isn’t it just????
@ Chidozie Uzoegbo
You have to be absolutely nuts to think that there was nothing wrong with Dumbass-ani’s singing?
I’d rather chew off my own ears than listen to him destroying our anthem again!
The man couldn’t hold a note, he sounded like a high school aspirant singing for the indulgence of adoring classmates.Maybe he was and never accepted that some voice training would be useful to a singer. He would have been laughed off stage at an idols audition and certainly wouldn’t have made the cut. Presumably he has friends in the right places, although they are probably all in hiding right now…
notwithstanding this the singer seems a mirror of the team: tired, dejected and out of tune.
You don’t even need to go that far, just make sure there is a recorded version that you can play and have anyone lipsync to it. The singing of the anthem should never be live anyway.
Uggggghhhhhh… that dude got 43million blood vessels boiling! Even my hamsters could have squeaked the anthem better…
@ Chidozie Uzoegbo
A word of advice. Don’t comment on matters musical in future. To say that you “don’t have any problem with his singing” suggests that you are tone deaf. However, it does explain how a number of people complimented Ras on his “performance” (as he claims)- clearly there are quite a few tone deaf people out there.
Maybe we should get the French national anthem translated in to English, and use that version during the Soccer World Cup. I think that they would consider this to be the ultimate insult.
The FFR apologised, he apologised, surely we should just leave it at that – why do we have to be such an unforgiving bunch…
Send a CD and CD player to travel with the team. Overseas teams’ management will probably be delighted!
Ras who? Who said the Rasta guys can sing anyway? I blame a person who tried to get a Rasta to sing. He must never set foot in SA.