Comments on: Ban the old South African flag

By: Hugh

Hugh — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:16:52 +0000

For a legal person, “waive” must be a more familiar concept then “wave”

By: Rose Morrow

Rose Morrow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:46:45 +0000

I think we are all reasonably intelligent people so we probably got what Traps was meaning when he inadvertantly wrote “waived” instead of “waved” – even he is human and frail just like the rest of us……..

By: Phillipa Lipinski

Phillipa Lipinski — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:29:47 +0000

Hugh Robinson: How DISGUSTING of you to say that the ANC applaud criminality and that they enjoyed being in prison. It is precisely because of former ‘prisoners’ like Nelson Mandela that you are able to parttake in these discussions here on this blog- he was not a CRIMINAL but a freedom fighter- That is why he and many others (Steve Biko, Walter Sisulu etc) were imprisoned.
Have you lived in a township that you can say with confidence that being a criminal is seen as something honorable? It seems that stupid and ignorant opinion was arrived at by reading newspapers and watching TV documentaries made by people who know nothing about township life.
For the past four years I have worked for an NGO in a township (Khayelitsha) and I can tell you that the one thing that MOST (if not all) township dwellwers (men and women) see as a “bagde of honor” is having a JOB!

By: Murray

Murray — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:08:32 +0000

Interesting first sentence: they ‘waived’ the flag? Sounds like the decision had already been made. Or did they wave the flag? Or is that the point – that we should waive the waving of the old South African flag?

By: Rose Morrow

Rose Morrow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:28:30 +0000

Hugh Robinson – Wow! Those sound like bitter, cynical comments – 48,000,000 people in South Africa – hypothetically speaking, if a million or even two million are, in your opinion, “badies” – there are still at least forty six million who fall into the “goody” category! Two million is a lot of people – almost the size of the Namibian population – it is most unlikely we have that many criminals or potential criminals anyway – so come on – get some perspective… To get back to the point, we simply do not photograph nasty happenings in our homes or within the family and proudly put them up on our walls “lest we forget”! I’ve seen millions of wedding photos displayed and none as the couple emerged from the divorce courts. We naturally tend to take photos of the good times and display them. Bad history is always there, it just doesn’t have to be rubbed in everyone’s face all the time. Waving the old flag at a rugby game is meaningless anyway because the team are playing under the new flag, in the new rugby jersey and singing (with great gusto I might add) the new National Anthem. The old flag has no meaning except to inflame people who were greatly hurt and stripped of their dignity under it.

By: Rose Morrow

Rose Morrow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:46:53 +0000

Well said Hugh – couldn’t agree with you more.

By: mundundu

mundundu — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:50:12 +0000

actually, ian shaw, depending on where you are, it is entirely out of provocation.

but, for the most part, it’s covered under the first amendment, so it’s tolerated anyway, and the people flying them are dismissed as dumb rednecks.

By: Karooseun

Karooseun — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:52:39 +0000

Sorry to enlighten you,but the old flag represented a minority,who ruled the country,and that without the majority having a say about governing the country The Union of South Africa was established in 1910 and since then until 1994 we had two flags which still did not represent the majority,as I have stated they had no say in government.Therefore when in 1994 their was a general election which was the very first election that was formed representing democracy,in which every South African voted for a new government the ANC,So the new flag is the flag of all South Africans irrespective of creed or colour or political mindset.Thus the old flag that reoresented a minority has no place in the new and democratic South Africa

By: Hugh

Hugh — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:54:59 +0000

Ian Shaw – I have met many Americans who despise the Confederate Flag as a symbol of of a “state” that believed in racial superority and slavery.
In SA there were (are?) many verkramptes who hated the little Union Jack in the middle of the old flag.
Black people have no great wish to return to the times when that flag was flown.
Worldwide, a piece of multi coloured cloth has the power to stir up emotions, both postiive and negative.

By: ian shaw

ian shaw — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:24:04 +0000

Learn from the Americans! In their devastating Civil War in the late 19th century the Southern States flew their Confededate flag while the Northern States had a flag which closely resembles todays’ US flag. The North had finally won the war and the United States has now a single flag well-known over the world. Yet in many Southern states the old Confederate flag is still being displayed, both in private homes and also in public, not as a matter of defiance or provocation, but as a historical relic with an undoubted importance in the nation’s collective spirit. No one feels offended by seeing it, even though the Civil War was probably the biggest and bloodiest conflict, where brother bitterly fought brother and two different cultures yet of the same national origin tragically clashed with more casualties than in the World Wars.