EDITOR'S COLUMN - What do South Africans do when the economy is going up in smoke, civil factions are at loggerheads, crime is peaking, political leaders are either absent or turning populist, and service delivery and public order is disappearing down the drain?
They braai.
Yes, instead of drowning in a sea of self-pity like the hapless inhabitants of other shores, we collectively lob another yard of boerie on the grid, crack open a cold one and celebrate the more gleeful aspects of our personal apocalypse with suitable aplomb.
Take away a braai from a South African and you’re left with only a…well, South African.
Whether you call it Tshinayama or braaivleis or – the lords forbid – barbeque (from whatever misdirected frump that dumped that term on the universe), it is our saving grace. Yep, a Braai in the Beloved Country is the glue, the common denominator, the essential strand of fabric in our polyglot cultural kombers that keeps us all kicking and screaming till a cow comes home.
So though we might seem slightly wors for wear, or feel that social harmony and our habitual discontent may never meat, (al bevind ons onsself soms in ‘n politieke wors-tyn of wors-tel ons met ‘n paar sosiale uitdagings), a single replenishing braai session will make us feel like we still have a real steak in our future.
So Braai, Braai, South African Guys (sung to the tune of Die Stem or anything else) – with just a lekker chop and a few changes, your future looks as braai as ever.
Impromtu gut-bash courtesy of ACE Models: Lancola Goeda, Siyabonga Yumata, Monica Hiemstra, and Petronella Mkwananzi. Photo: Blake Linder
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