Prowl the etherspace long enough and you may discover that South Africa could be passed off as Ghana, Zanzibar or some cannibalistic vodoo enclave in just another woebegone region somewhere in the ‘country’ of Africa. Indeed, you’d be quite surprised to find just how closed-off and insulated much of the developed world is from the rest of the globe especially the Mother continent. In a nutshell, in 2026 new additions that go beyond Africa being the incubator of disease, grating poverty – no television, let alone the internet – remain pervasive despite the supposed universal access to knowledge that digital technology and 4IR claim to ensure.
Cut your camera on in the social live streams and the questions will feel like you’ve been teleported back to the days of H. Rider Haggard. Is that really a flat screen over there? How do you power it on? So, have you fetched water from the river today? By now, self-deprecation is a viable defusion tool – to simply embrace the tropes and play along. So, with a straight face you proceed to tell them that you’re receiving your connection from a nearby hilltop and that the only thing standing between you and the hungry lions roaming nearby is a voodoo-laced necklace that was procured from a toothless sorceress who lives in a cave surrounded by cackling baboons.
What you need to do in these circumstances is not to get all cocky. That usually winds up in long-winded exchanges with people who often have never really given much thought to anything else outside of baseball and Thanksgiving dinner. Resist mentioning Dr Chris Barnard, the Gautrain, Mandela, Musk or Pelindaba Nuclear Facility. Johannesburg in such company is a sewage-strewn slum with no paved roads or skyscrapers, only tin huts with outhouse and urchins in animal skins. Trying to explain that this was once a nuclear power that voluntarily destroyed its arsenal of WMDs would likely have you labeled somewhere between a lunatic or crackhead. And the only sport played here are the ‘Africa games’ – which in the estimation of outsiders denote anything from hurling animal bones to clubbing an opponent to within an inch of his life and whatever other savage mumbo jumbo people are into over here on the Dark Continent.
However, just as you’ve swallowed your pride and tried not to draw too much attention, fate casts the spotlight in your general direction. The soft power of this quietly exceptional country that sometimes rivals far more wealthier and established societies, had the world’s imagination squarely fixed on it for at least a week. It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that this domestic incident momentarily shifted much of the global focus from the geopolitical calamities happening on the Strait of Hormuz and the realities of a world at war, and in their place were the Starlink planes that performed that daring flyover.
To rugby fanatics, this was the one that nobody could afford to miss. However, to those parts of the world not really into rugby, ‘the greatest rivalry’ turned out not to be the thirty bulky men set to battle it out on the field in Cape Town’s DHL Stadium but the pilots flying roughly fourteen meters above the facility that got the influencers posting ad nauseum. In that brief moment – probably no more than 10 seconds – time almost came to a complete halt. One could almost hear the gasps, ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ as the world watched the two planes descending lower and lower (about 12.5m above the 50m stadium) down on the packed stadium, some 56 000 fans frantically cheering below, some probably wanting to look away.
With clenched teeth, friendly countries gave SA a metaphorical tap on the back for creativity and being able to spontaneously pull off some pretty impressive stunts. The more hostile lot were quick to point out just how stupid, unnecessary and dangerous the entire exercise was. Some even hoped for a 20/11-like disaster. The queasy just wanted to look away so as not to see the imminent tragedy. Except they couldn’t. On that pitch, a far deeper story was about to unfold. As far as rugby stakes go, this is the Superbowl. It’s the Champion’s League final. Man, this is The Rumble in Jungle and the two heavyweights – both with a deep, illustrious history in the game always have a point to prove to one another and the world.
As anticipated, this one was not only tightly contested but Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus had a few surprises up his sleeves, not least of which was winger Cheslin Kolbie taking over the primary goal-kicking duties. Despite all the excitement in the Springbok’s 33 – 26 victory, it was still the pre-match flyover that captured international headlines. Social media sleuths quickly dredged up a video from last year of US President Donald Trump praising the pilots of his Air Force One Boeing which pulled off a similar stunt flying over the Northwest Stadium in Maryland before an NFL game in November.
Media houses across the world were reporting on SA’s flypast, some even bringing in pilots and aviation personnel for expert industry opinion. On all platforms, this was the viral story. It’s exactly what the doctor ordered to divert the world from the depressing natural disasters and bloodshed. For a while, we forgot all about xenophobia, accusations of a white genocide and even who to vote for in the upcoming LGEs.
And, as this writer found himself hopping on to yet another familiar live social media stream, there was a smug, satisfied look on his face. Suddenly the condescending questions from his foreign hosts had evaporated. Footage of Cape Town – inarguarbly one of the finest cities in the world – from the flyover videos had his usually scoffing pals all eager and curious. They had seen the modern buildings set against a backdrop of Table Mountain and the wide blue ocean melting away into the horizon. From that moment, it was best not to say anything. They had seen with their own eyes the beauty that makes every South African feel blessed to be a citizen of this place.
The headline–making Airlink planes flying over Cape Town Stadium. Source: Airlink Facebook page.