From: Steve.Hayes@p5.f22.n7101.z5.fidonet.org (Steve Hayes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: unity and other myths
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 92 02:30:00 GMT
Organization: FidoNet node 5:7101/22.5 - Novell User Group, Pretoria RSA

On <07 Sep 1992 22:04> Riel Smit said to All :

 RS>So allow me some stirring.. :-)
 RS>I don't think it's wording supports much of the tribal anthem thing.
 RS>If one disregards the baggage that comes with Die Stem ("the voice", for
 RS>those who don't understand Afrikaans) and only look at the words,
 RS>especially the official translation, it is not at all "exclusive"
 RS>-- or am I totally mistaken?  OK, one also have to ignore its christian
 RS>nature, but then Nkosi sikelele is even more christian.

     There's no land that shares our loving, and no bond
          that can enslave. 
     Thou hast borne us and we know thee.  May our deeds to
          all proclaim 
     Our enduring love and service to thy honour and thy
          name.)

     Deel geen ander land ons liefde, trek geen ander trou
          ons af. 
     Vaderland! ons sal die adel van jou naam met ere dra: 
     Waar en trou as Afrikaners - kinders van Suid-Afrika.

Thanks to Mark for posting the full words and some historical background. 

I would question whether "Die stem" is Christian, and the sections I have 
quoted above are certainly exclusive, not only in a religious, but also in a 
racial sense. The English "translation" obscures this. 

What it really says is:

No other land shares our love, no other loyalty draws us away
Fatherland! We will bear the nobility of your name with honour
True and faithful as Afrikaners, children of South Africa.

From a Christian point of view that comes pretty close to idolatry, 
especially the bit about "trek geen ander trou ons af", which could suggest 
that God can't compete with Afrikanerdom for our loyalties. That is certainly 
how many right-wing whites understand it today. Though many of them are 
atheists, they have no reservations about singing "Die stem" - certainly 
fewer than Joe Slovo might have about singing "Nkosi sikelele"

In the context in which it was written, however, one could say that 
Langenhoven did not mean that to suggest that South Africa should be more 
important than God, only that it should be more important than Britain. 

It was never intended to be a national anthem, only a nationalist one. The 
part I have quoted was clearly intended to include only Afrikaners. 
Afrikaners were defined as white, Afrikaans-speaking, members of one of the 
three Dutch Reformed Churches (NGK, NHK and Gereformeerde Kerk) and supporters 
of the Nationalist Party. It is clearly intended to exclude English-speaking 
South Africans, and specifically those who wanted a foreign flag, and who 
were suspected of having divided loyalties - "no other land" referring most 
particularly to Britain. Though it does not specifically exclude blacks, that 
it because it would probably never have occurred to Afrikaner nationalists of 
those days that anyone in their right mind would have thought of that as a 
possibility. 







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