Tomorrow is Heritage Day 🇿🇦
And for all our problems, all our frustrations, all the things we wish we could fix about this country, there is still something about South Africa that gets under your skin.
Because this is home.
It’s the smell of a braai drifting over the neighbour’s wall.
It’s hadedas screaming at an hour no reasonable creature should be awake.
It’s a stranger calling you my bru, sisi, boet, mama or boss as if you’ve known each other for years.
It’s biltong on a road trip. Rugby on a Saturday. Rooibos tea. Koeksisters. Vetkoek. Boerewors. Bunny chow. Pap and vleis. A potjie that was supposed to be ready two hours ago.
It’s Table Mountain appearing between the clouds.
The Karoo stretching so far that the silence almost makes your ears ring.
The Drakensberg. The Lowveld. The winelands. The Wild Coast. The West Coast. The bushveld.
It’s a country so beautiful that sometimes you forget to appreciate what is sitting right in front of us.
But our heritage is about far more than landscapes and food.
It is about people.
South Africa is complicated.
Our history is complicated.
We come from different cultures, different languages, different religions, different backgrounds and very different experiences of this country.
We don't always agree.
In fact, we’re remarkably good at disagreeing.
But somehow, beneath all of that, there is something that binds us together.
A certain toughness.
A sense of humour when things go wrong.
An ability to laugh when the lights go out.
To make a plan.
To help a stranger push their car.
To greet people we’ve never met.
To turn almost any gathering into a braai.
And when something truly matters, to suddenly remember that we belong to something bigger than ourselves.
Perhaps that is what Heritage Day should remind us of.
That South Africa isn't something that belongs to politicians, governments or institutions.
It belongs to us.
To the farmer getting up before sunrise.
To the nurse starting another night shift.
To the teacher standing in front of a classroom.
To the entrepreneur risking everything on an idea.
To the artisan working with their hands.
To the mother raising her children.
To the person opening a shop in the morning, driving a taxi, fixing a pipe, building a house, planting a vineyard, sweeping a pavement or employing one more person.
A country is ultimately built by ordinary people.
And South Africa is filled with extraordinary ordinary people.
People who keep going.
People who build.
People who create.
People who laugh.
People who make a plan.
People who refuse to give up on this place.
Patriotism doesn't mean pretending South Africa is perfect.
It isn't.
It means believing that something can be deeply flawed and still be deeply worth fighting for.
It means wanting to leave this country a little better than we found it.
And perhaps most importantly, teaching our children that being South African is something they can be proud of.
Because despite everything we've been through, we are still here.
Eleven official spoken languages and South African Sign Language.
Countless cultures.
Millions of stories.
One extraordinary, messy, frustrating, magnificent country at the bottom of Africa.
Tomorrow, some of us will light a fire and spend the day with family and friends.
Others will put on a uniform, open a shop, drive a truck, serve a customer, care for a patient, patrol a street, work a shift or simply carry on with an ordinary Thursday.
And that is part of our story too.
Because a country doesn't stop on a public holiday.
Somebody still has to keep the lights on, the hospitals running, the roads moving, the restaurants open and the wheels of this country turning.
So however you spend tomorrow, take a moment.
Look around.
Remember the people who came before us.
Appreciate the people beside us.
And perhaps, for just one day, put aside everything that divides us and remember everything that connects us.
We are South African.
Different stories. Different cultures. Different lives.
But one place we all get to call home.
Happy Heritage Day, South Africa. 🇿🇦
If today's Brief made you smile, taught you something, or helped you procrastinate for a few minutes at work, consider buying us a coffee.
As always, thanks for reading. If you spot something in town worth knowing, reply and tell us. Half the best Stellenbosch stories begin that way.
See you around town,
Stellenbosch Brief
If you know someone in Stellenbosch who would appreciate this, feel free to forward it to them. The right readers tend to find each other.