It’s the Boks and the best rugby in the world

[View in browser]( [Mail & Guardian]( M&G Mornings | Fri 27 Oct   [Ron Derby] For the longest time, the Springboks were to me a bit like a Leon Schuster movie or the SABC1 comedy series Emzini Wezinsizwa, offensive in many ways, playing on our racial divisions, ethnic stereotypes but providing a guilty laugh that only a South African with their guard down could understand and forgive. To this day, Mr Bones is one of the best watched movies on DStv with its majority black audience. It’s ridiculous that a movie that came out in 2001, and one that shouldn’t survive the cancel era, still ranks so highly on our television screens. For a long time, the Boks played in the same grey area for me. I’ve enjoyed watching them for some 28 years knowing very well that there’s an underlying culture in the team, its administration, its ethos that was not for me, not inclusive of all that we are. I watched them just waiting for the next headline about racism within its administrative ranks or an embarrassing story like “Kamp Staaldrad”. The headlines haven’t quite gone away, but the case of Bongi Mbonambi was intriguing and quite the change — a black man accused of racism. Isn’t that an oxymoron? That has for the longest time been how I’ve followed the team, waiting for some deflating headline about the Boks. That’s changed. I’m an unreserved fan of the team. Maybe I’m older and have no inclination to dig deeper about a sport, any sport. This weekend, I will watch paralysed by tension — and hopefully at the end a joyful release of that tension. Either way, the Boks are a damn good rugby team. Ron Derby | Editor-in-Chief [@Ronderby]( ADVERTISEMENT [Emissions from the Kendal power station have affected at least 124?000 people. Samantha Reinders, M&G]( [Bill opens way for SA to leave fossil fuels behind]( Legislation will compel the government to act on climate change but there are still several concerns [// Read more]( Premium [eThekwini turnaround team pulls out]( Opposition from the ANC eThekwini region and a lack of clarity from above put paid to the attempt to intervene in the city [// Read more]( [Coffee lovers now have a large range of local roasts to choose from]( [Can coffee help you avoid weight gain? Here’s what the science says]( Is it worth adding another warm cup to shed those last kilogrammes? [// Read more]( Recommended Reads [The Last Afternoon in the Garden | Episode 4 – What about a conviction?]( In this fourth episode of The Last Afternoon in the Garden we go back to the communal garden one last time to reflect on everything that has happened. We seek out experts to try and explain the violence and confront a person from the past who has a different version of events. [// Read more]( [World Bank loan will support South Africa’s energy transition]( The global financier announced that it had approved a $1 billion loan to help the country’s shift to cleaner forms of energy [// Read more]( [Agoa forum: ‘Africa to assert its place in global economy’]( South Africa’s trade, industry and competition minister said member countries are asking that the pact be renewed for another 10 years [// Read more]( [Local researchers exhume oldest brittle stars of Southern Hemisphere]( Ancient brittle stars from the supercontinent of Gondwana unearthed in 410-million-year-old rocks in Eastern Cape [// Read more]( [Bill to make Investigating Directorate permanent is flawed, parliament hears]( The measure cannot guarantee independency of the entity because it fails to address the reliance of the National Prosecuting Authority itself on the justice ministry [// Read more]( [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Mail & Guardian Media LTD · 25 Owl St · Braamfontein · Johannesburg, Gauteng 2001 · South Africa