100 Greatest South Africans

Rethabile at On Lesotho has posted about the results of the SABC's recent poll to determine the 100 Greatest South Africans. I agree with him, and with Max du Preez - it was an opportunity lost. The list is a joke with Hedrik Verwoerd, Steve Hofmeyer, PW Botha, Alan Boesak and Jeremy Mansfield (!) cracking the nod. Meanwhile, people like JM Coetzee, Moshoeshoe I and Braam Fischer don't make it in. Unbelievable.

What makes this a fascinating, if disappointing, exercise, is the amazing mix of people on the list. The juxtapositions are so ironic, for example: Chris Hani next to Hendrik Verwoerd, Steve Hofmeyer sandwiched between Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, Eugene Terreblanche next to (and above) Helen Suzman, and Mamphela Ramphele next to Cecil Rhodes. For me, the greatest point that this list proves is that the diversity in South Africa is, at present, far from unifying - as claimed on our national coat of arms - and we still have a long way to go before South Africans can identify around common cultural icons.