From successfully hosting a G20 summit to shining on the sporting arenas and then pivoting to be the champion for global social justice Madiba wanted us to be, South Africa is a force to be reckoned with. But back home, excuse us if we're not excited when gender-based violence and the mowing down of children in gang violence are part of our daily reality, writes Gasant Abarder in a new column.
Fans of Ireland's rugby side took umbrage when our Bok supremo Rassie Erasmus threw a cheeky double thumbs up after winning the Test, now being billed as the strangest ever played. The Boks triumphed for the first time in 13 years against their bogey opponents, so what's wrong with Rassie celebrating? (Also, I thought the Irish were plesierig? Apparently not!)
The four-time world champion Bokke have conquered all before them and are now at the top of the global rankings. To top it off, hooker Malcolm Marx was awarded rugby's Ballon d'Or right after the final whistle. As an Afrikaans friend pointed out to me: 'We've feasted on puma, then sushi, then cockerel, Irish stew this past Saturday ... volgende week vreet ons Walvis (we play Wales this weekend).'
Elsewhere, the Test World Champion Proteas are 1-nil up in a Test series against India on the subcontinent and inflicting pain in the second Test as you read this. Under Shukri Conrad, they have restored their place in world cricket.
Bafana have qualified for the World Cup 2026 - the first time they'll participate in the pinnacle tournament of world football since hosting the showpiece in 2010. They have been on a historic unbeaten run for months now with Hugo Broos at the helm.
On the international political front, our president, Cyril Ramaphosa's skillfully diplomacy received widespread approval from world leaders for SA's hosting of the G20 summit. Cupcake is a master debater and a cunning linguist! He has yet again shown leadership in the face of the United States and Donald Trump boycotting the summit.
When there is turmoil in the world, like the genocide in Palestine, the world is looking to us to make telling moves. And we have. But back on earth, here on the streets of Mzansi, things are not so lekker.
On Friday, the government declared that gender-based violence was a national disaster. It was indeed the real Black Friday and not the 5 percent off discount marketing rubbish retailers are trying to fool us with. In poignant demonstrations last Friday as part of the Women for Change campaign, South Africans of all persuasions protested silently at 12 noon for 15 minutes for the victims of gender-based violence.
We need to know, now that there is a national disaster, what is going to happen? A national disaster means exactly what? How will this help turn the tables on violence against women and children?
Closer to home, on the Cape Flats, we're failing ordinary men, women and children who are held to ransom by gangsters indiscriminately shooting at a primary school while children are in class. I couldn't help thinking, after hearing this particular item on the radio news on Friday, how this wasn't global news? If this happened anywhere else in the Western world, there would be around-the-clock news coverage.
The murders of children by gangsters are also a national disaster. The minister of police confirmed that between the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, gang-related murders of minors recorded by police stations on the Cape Flats more than doubled from 27 to 59.
Between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2025, 472 children were murdered on the Cape Flats - most notably Elsies River, Mitchells Plain and Delft, accounting for more than 40% of all child-related killings over the 5 years. In this time, 3 335 illegal firearms were recovered on the Cape Flats.
I found it hilarious that Minister of Agriculture John 'Swipe-Swipe' Steenhuisen was lauding South Africa's hosting of the G20 when his party colleague Helen Zille, with aspirations of becoming Joburg mayor, was pointing out a pothole that had become a sinkhole in the City of Gold. Steenhuisen was singing for his supper while Zille painted the contrast between the roads ordinary SAffers had to drive on against the pristine tarred surfaces the luxury vehicles delivering world leaders would be driving on.
Ah, South Africa. Land of great possibilities. Land of great contrasts. Land of crazy inequality. We know that we can get a handle on the twin challenges of gender-based violence and children murdered by gangs if we really wanted to.
We've successfully taken Israel to court to declare what it is inflicting as a genocide and rightly so. Can we now focus on the genocide against women and children in our own country, please?
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