NELSON MANDELA: RUGBY, SOCCER AND THE FUTURE OF THE NATION

Friday, 16 August, 2013 - 16:30

WiSER invites you to a panel discussion

NELSON MANDELA: RUGBY, SOCCER AND THE FUTURE OF THE NATION

On August 17, 2013, the South African national soccer and rugby teams will play for the first time on the same field, the FNB Stadium.

The Springboks will face Argentina and Bafana Bafana will take on Burkina Faso.  These two sport events are part of the Nelson Mandela Sports Day.  This day honors Mandela’s Rugby Moment when he wore the Number 6 Springbok Jersey at the 1995 Rugby World Cup and, in a dramatic gesture of reconciliation, reanimated the dream of  non-racialism that had been a cornerstone of the struggle for liberation and of the project of a free and democratic South Africa.  Eighteen years later, as Mandela undertakes the last step of his “long walk to freedom”, a WISER panel discusses the question: Has Mandela’s faith in the power of sport to unite the nation been vindicated?

The panel includes:

Achille Mbembe and Keith Breckenridge (WISER)

Owen Nkumane (Super Sport commentator and ex-Springbok)

Vata Ngobeni (Rugby correspondent for Pretoria News)

Simnikiwe Xabanisa (Sports editor of the Sunday Times)

Liz McGregor (author of Springbok Factory: What It Takes To Be a Bok)

An edited recording of this event is available on the Internet Archive.

Time:  Thursday, 15th August 2013, 5pm

Venue: WISER Seminar room,  6th Floor, Richard Ward Building, East Campus

RSVP: Najibha.Deshmukh@wits.ac.za