National anthem of South Africa

Background

From the late 1940s to the early 1990s, South Africa was governed by a system known as apartheid, a widely-condemned system of institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination that was based on white supremacy and the repression of the black majority for the benefit of the politically and economically dominant Afrikaner minority and other whites. During this period, South Africa's national anthem was "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika", also known as "Die Stem", an Afrikaans language song that chronicled the Voortrekkers and their "Great Trek". "Die Stem" is a poem written by C. J. Langenhoven in 1918 and was set to music by the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921.^[4] "Die Stem" (English: "The voice of South Africa") was the co–national anthem^[5] with 'God Save The King'/'God Save The Queen' between 1938 and 1957, when it became the sole national anthem until 1994. "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" (English: "The Voice of South Africa") was composed of 8 stanzas (The original 4 in Afrikaans and 4 in English - a translation of the Afrikaans with a few modifications). It was seldom sung in its entirety; usually the first stanza was the most widely known and sung sometimes followed by the last stanza.

When apartheid came to an end in the early 1990s, the future of "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" was called into question.^[6][7] It was ultimately retained as the national anthem, though "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika", a Xhosa language song that was used by the anti-apartheid movement, was also introduced and adopted as a second national anthem of equal standing.^[8] "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" was composed by a Methodist school teacher named Enoch Sontonga in 1897. It was first sung as a church hymn but later became an act of political defiance against the apartheid regime.

The South African government adopted both songs as dual national anthems in 1994, when they were performed at Nelson Mandela's inauguration.^[9]

For the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Morné du Plessis suggested that the Springboks learn all the words of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika", and "they did so with great feeling", according to their instructor Anne Munnik.^[10]

Inception

The practice of having two national anthems proved cumbersome as performing both of them took as much as five minutes.^[11] This was rectified when South Africa's dual national anthems were merged in abridged forms in early 1997^[12] to form its current national anthem. The new national anthem was published in the South African Government Gazette on 10 October 1997.^[12] During the drafting of the new national anthem, it was requested by South African president Nelson Mandela that it be no more than 1 minute and 48 seconds in length.^[12] The new English lyrics were adapted from the last four lines of the first stanza of "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" (English: "The Call of South Africa"), with the changes made to reflect hope in post-apartheid South African society. Lines borrowed from the two previous national anthems were modified to be more inclusive, omitting overt reference to specific groups. Thus, lines from the apartheid-era national anthem's first stanza referencing the Voortrekkers' "Great Trek" were omitted, as "this was the experience of only one section of our community."^[3][12] Likewise, the words "Woza Moya", used in "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" were also omitted, as the phrase is a specifically Christian reference, rather than a generically religious one,^[3] and thus not acceptable to South Africans of other religions, particularly Muslim South Africans.^[12] The English version of "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" was less prominent than the Afrikaans version and thus could be changed with little objection or controversy.^[12] As such, the English portion of the new South African national anthem was the one changed from the previous version.^[12]

Criticism

In recent years, the South African national anthem has come under criticism for its Afrikaans verse as it originally part of the national anthem of South Africa that was used during the apartheid era,^[13] with some calling for the verse to be removed because of this connection.^{[14][15][16][17]} Others defend the inclusion of the verse, pointing out that it is included in large part due to the wishes of the first post-apartheid South African president, Nelson Mandela, who intended its inclusion as a re-conciliatory measure for the post-apartheid future of South Africa.^[18][9][10]