Let us pause, dear reader, and consider the exquisite agony of South Africa. The Springboks, those paragons of masculine virtue and racial reconciliation, have been despatched from the Rugby World Cup not by a superior force but by the mocking laughter of their African neighbours. The continent, it seems, has finally grown tired of Pretoria’s airs.
Egyptian comedians post memes. Nigerian Twitter erupts in gleeful Schadenfreude. Even the Kenyans, with their long-distance running obsessions, find time to taunt.
The fall is not merely athletic. It is civilisational. South Africa, for all its talk of a Rainbow Nation, has become a parody of itself: a first-world infrastructure with third-world governance, a team of heroes undone by the very mediocrity that grips the state.
The Boks’ loss to New Zealand was predictable. But the online deluge from Abidjan to Addis Ababa tells a deeper truth: the continent’s most prosperous nation is now its most ridiculed. Pressure mounts, yes, but not merely on the coach.
The very idea of South African exceptionalism lies bleeding on the pitch. Meanwhile, the ANC fiddles, Eskom dims the lights, and the rand slides. Titus Andronicus would weep.
Rome fell after centuries. Pretoria may follow in decades. For now, enjoy the memes.
They are the only honest commentary left.
