If a week is a lifetime in the dynamics of SA, two weeks is an eternity.
On Saturday, Siya Kolisi, a 28-year old from Zwide, Port Elizabeth, is set to lead the Springboks on to the pitch for our third Rugby World Cup final.
It marks a string of firsts — first from our Bay, first township youth, first Grey High School graduate, first Zwide son, first black man in the world to do so.
There will not be a dry eye in the Bay or country when he bellows out our national anthem on the day.
It is useful to remind ourselves where he comes from.
His mother, Phakama, was 16 when Kolisi was born.
His father, Fezakele, was in matric and then left to Cape Town shortly thereafter — an absent father.
Tragically, Kolisi’s mother died when Siya was just 15, and he was raised by his late grandmother, Nolulamile.
For much of his young life he slept on couch cushions on the floor.
He was spotted at age 12 by rugby talent scouts in Port Elizabeth and his performance in a Mossel Bay tournament resulted in a scholarship to Grey High.
Then he was off to the rugby academy in Stellenbosch, and then the Stormers and the Springboks.
Kolisi is a Christian by faith.
In 2016, he married Rachel, a marketing executive from Makhanda, and they have two children.
Kolisi’s half siblings, who had spent time in children’s homes and foster care in Port Elizabeth, are now part of the Kolisi home.
At the press conference after Sunday’s win against Wales, when asked where he was when SA last won the World Cup in 2007, “in a tavern, because I didn’t have a TV at home” was his humbling response.
On Sunday, hours before Kolisi led his team to victory against Wales, John Steenhuisen, a 43-year-old white 1993 matriculant from KwaZulu-Natal, was named as the DA’s parliamentary leader.
Steenhuisen is also considered the front-runner to replace Mmusi Maimane as leader of the DA.
Elected to the Durban City Council in 1999, at the age of 22, Steenhuisen was elected in 1999 both to the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature and as the DA’s provincial leader.
Then, in 2010, amid revelations of marital infidelity, he resigned from the leadership position.
In 2011, he moved across to the National Assembly and was appointed the DA’s chief whip in 2014.
Considered a fine orator, he is now married to the person he had an affair with, and has two daughters from his previous marriage.
Steenhuisen’s ascendancy was a direct consequence of Mmusi Maimane resigning from the overall party leadership position on October 23, and then the parliamentary leadership position the next morning.
Maimane, a 39-year old public administration and theology Masters graduate, was born in Krugersdorp and grew up in Soweto.
His mother works in a pharmaceutical company and his father works in a lock factory.
Maimane is a Christian preacher and married Natalie, whom he had met at church, in 2005.
They have two children.
He was the DA’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg in 2011, became national spokesperson in the same year, candidate for Gauteng premier in the 2014 general election, successor to Lindiwe Mazibuko as DA parliamentary leader in 2014, and took over from Helen Zille as party leader in May 2015.
At the same press conference where Mmusi resigned, our Bay’s Athol Trollip did the same.
Defeated in a close election for the DA’s federal Council chair by Helen Zille on the Sunday before, Trollip followed Herman Mashaba, who resigned as mayor of Johannesburg two days before.
Still following? Sunday: Zille becomes chair; Monday: Mashaba resigns; Wednesday: Maimane and Trollip resign together; Thursday: Maimane resigns as parliamentary leader; Sunday: Steenhuisen is elected parliamentary leader and, on the same day, SA beat Wales to send Kolisi and team to the World Cup final.
Just another ordinary roller-coaster week in SA?
The problem with the constant adrenaline rush, is that we no longer remember the week prior.
In the early hours of Thursday October 17, our municipal speaker, Buyelwa Mafaya, cancelled that day’s scheduled motion of no confidence in our mayor, Mongameli Bobani, due to “imminent threats against councillors”.
It now appears that a group of SMME persons had intimidated an ANC caucus meeting into backing out of a behind-the-scenes deal with the DA.
Coupled with concerns that ousting Bobani would allow Trollip to return, despite the deal ensuring the DA would not be part of the local government, the city balked at replacing the mayor.
It now faces the imminent threat of having to return to the Treasury an amount of R3bn for non-compliance with regard to the Integrated Public Transport System.
While Bobani’s survival now equals that of his predecessor, the city will not be granted the same grace in dodging its financial commitments.
Bobani had promised SMMEs a pot of R486m over three years; ultimately, it is the same strong-arming SMMEs who lose out — the R3bn has to come from somewhere.
The last two weeks are not so much a lesson in politics as a lesson in how we continuously focus on the unimportant to the detriment of the important.
Does it matter whether Steenhuisen has a matric but Maimane has two Master’s degrees?
Does it matter that Maimane is married to his church sweetheart whereas Steenhuisen married his lover?
Does it matter that mayor Trollip is white, whereas mayor Bobani is black, if the city fails all?
Does it matter what race Zille, Steenhuisen and Trollip are; what race Mashaba, Maimane and Bobani are?
Yes and no.
Yes, because Kolisi leading the Springboks on to the field on Saturday is a significant step in marking the transformation of our country.
No, because Kolisi’s skill will decide whether he holds aloft the William Webb Ellis trophy.
It’s a complex thing.
We wish Kolisi and his team all of the best.
Make us proud.