Donal Lenihan: Dreams of a Rainbow Nation are more distant than ever

Even here in Cape Town, which has always been the most cosmopolitan of South Africa’s cities, a turf war is raging between different taxi groups. Police say at least seven people were dead after a recent shooting spree in what’s suspected to be the latest flare-up in the deadly taxi turf war.

South African Police Services members arrest a looter at the Gold Spot Shopping Centre in Vosloorus, south-east of Johannesburg, last month. Picture: Guillem Sartorio

The stunning beauty of this conflicted country serves to camouflage a nation on the brink of anarchy. It is winter here in Cape Town but temperatures hit 24C last week.

With the cool Atlantic breeze blowing, the beautiful walk from the waterfront to Mouille Point was awash with activity. It is all very idyllic until you see the number of people sleeping rough on the beachfront and scattered around the many parks and playgrounds that adorn Green Point.

This is my ninth trip to South Africa. Only one, back in 1982, was conducted under the Apartheid regime. As a young 22-year-old rugby player, I was far too naive and selfish to consider the broader issues.

Ireland controversially toured here in the summer of 1981 but I didn’t travel due to final exam commitments in UCC, thus missing out on the possibility of being capped for the first time.

Twelve months later, I was selected as part of a Five Nations invitation squad, made up mostly of players from the 1980 British & Irish Lions touring party along with Serge Blanco and Dominic Erbani from France.

I didn’t hesitate for a second in my desire to make up for the opportunity lost with Ireland. The intervening period proved fruitful and rewarding for me personally and I finally made the trek to South Africa with five Irish caps, a Triple Crown, and a Five Nations Championship under my belt.

It was an incredible rugby experience, playing against Western Province at Newlands, Cape Town, Transvaal, and a South African XV in Johannesburg to mark the opening of the magnificent Ellis Park Stadium, the most impressive arena I ever played in. We were looked after like kings, but, if I’m honest, it was difficult not to appreciate the inequality that surrounded us, the clear division between the haves and the have-nots.

By the time I returned, 12 years later, for the 1995 World Cup, we were witnessing the impact on the country of Nelson Mandela’s liberation after 27 years in captivity and his ascension to the presidency, the emergence of the Rainbow Nation, and the promise of a bright future of all of South Africa’s citizens.

On subsequent trips here, with the Lions in 1997 and 2009, and Ireland in 1998, it appeared as if things were improving. People spoke of change. Things appeared to be moving in the right direction.

However, by the time Ireland played their three-Test series here in 2016, it was clear the system was severely dysfunctional.

While the global pandemic served to change the entire course of this British & Irish Lions tour, with upward of 30,000 visiting fans set to contribute massively to a struggling economy, in some ways, it’s just as well they’re not here at the moment.

Havoc was caused from riots by supporters of former president Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg and Durban two weeks ago following his imprisonment after being convicted for contempt of court for failing to attend an inquiry into corruption during his presidency.

One journalist on the trip told me of a purchase he made in a shop in Durban that he wanted to change. When he returned the following day, the shop had been burnt down. In Johannesburg, the riots and looting were close to where the Lions team and many of the Lions supporters, had they travelled, would have been staying.

Even here in Cape Town, which has always been the most cosmopolitan of South Africa’s cities, a turf war is raging between different taxi groups. Police say at least seven people were left dead after a recent shooting spree in what’s suspected to be the latest flare-up in the deadly taxi turf war. Last week, one of the English photographers in our party covering the tour came across the dead body of a man in the heart of Cape Town only minutes after he was shot in one such incident.

Speaking to restaurant staff in one of the most popular waterfront restaurants last Friday night, I enquired if the ease with which we were able to secure a table was due to Covid? “It’s a factor,” she said, but a bigger one is the fact that people were reluctant to take taxis due to the feud.

There are problems on all fronts. Older members of the black community that we have spoken to made the comment that, in some ways, they were better off in the Apartheid era.

At the very least, one said, there was law and order. That’s clearly not the case now. To date this year alone, over 200 serving members of the police force have been killed. Yet there have been little repercussions.

Members of the white community will tell you that the job prospects for their kids across a wide sector of areas are extremely bleak, a reversal of the way things were in the not too distant past.

As a consequence, the vast majority of their children have departed and are working in Europe. Across the board, everyone appears gravely concerned for what the future holds.

In an effort to get out of the hotel and remind ourselves of the raw beauty of the Cape, a few of us visited the magnificent, picture-perfect Franschhoek valley and its adjacent town along with the beautiful university town of Stellenbosch, the nursery for numerous Springbok greats over the years.

On the way, we stopped outside the famous Victor Verster prison from where Nelson Mandela walked free to a worldwide television audience in February 1990. I remember it vividly, one of those “where were you” moments.

A magnificent statue adorns the spot. We had to stop. The photo opportunity was too good to miss, even if we were slightly nervous about the chain gang of orange-clad prisoners who were in the midst of laying an impressive looking rockery on the avenue leading to the prison gates. They cheered as we took turns to have our picture taken next to the iconic statue of Mandela.

Donal Lenihan stands alongside the statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela

The view over the Franschhoek valley was amazing. One could see just why the original settlers, the French Huguenots, chose to set up shop here between 1671 and 1692 to plant the rich vines they had transported with them from the home. The valley remains one of the great wine producing regions of the southern cape. The journey through Stellenbosch, with its original Dutch buildings still dominating the main thoroughfares, added further historic reference points.

The area’s famous rugby-playing university will be forever associated with Danie Craven, a Springbok himself, president of South African rugby between 1953 and 1993, chairman of the IRB on three separate occasions, and a staunch defender of the Apartheid system.

The forced isolation of his beloved sport from the international arena eventually led to him opening up discussions with the ANC in 1988 with a view towards negotiating a return to international competition.

Given that back in 1969, when Craven sparked outrage among anti-apartheid activists when he said, “there will be a black Springbok over my dead body”, this was a seismic turn of events that shocked many.

Those talks eventually paved the way for the newly formed South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) and the Springboks return to the international fold in 1992.

On the homeward journey from Stellenbosch, the stunning beauty of the countryside was suddenly and unmercifully shattered by the reality of everyday life for a large portion of the Cape community who live in the township of Khayelitsha. In 2011, the population was estimated at 400,000. Nobody knows for sure how many live there now but you can take it that it’s several multiples of that.

It’s incomprehensible to think that 28 years after the dismantlement of the Apartheid system, people are still forced to live in such squalor. A life of crime is the inevitable route for so many of the young kids forced to somehow eke out a living from these corrugated shacks. They extend for miles, as far as the eye could see. There was rubbish strewn everywhere. The smell was horrific. One can only imagine what it must be like at the height of the summer.

Nobody can really predict with any degree of certainty what lies ahead for this complex country. It has so many things going for it and really should be one of the great tourist meccas of the world. Despite the challenges, it should be on everyone’s bucket list to visit at least once.

It really is stunning, it’s people-friendly and engaging. Next Saturday evening, rugby’s most famous tourists face a game of monumental proportions. Victory will make all the sacrifices they’ve made over the last six weeks worthwhile. Nothing short of a series win can save the tour now.

History and tradition dictate that it will be 2033 before a new batch of British and Irish Lions return to face with the mighty Springboks.

My sincere hope is that when they return, the country will be in a better place than it currently finds itself.