Heroine’s Welcome for Semenya

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s golden girl and first lady of sport Ms. Caster Semenya was treated to a heroine’s welcome at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg yesterday after arriving from Berlin’s Olympic Games where she trounced the world’s best to win gold.

Political Heavyweights

Addressing an excited crowd that greeted her with vuvuzelas, drums, among others, Semenya was overcome with emotions of joy at such a massive welcoming event which included the President of South Africa, the great Mosholozi, Mr. Jacob Zuma and other political heavyweights like President of the African National Congress Youth League the intrepid Mr. Julius Malema and the mother of South African freedom and member of Parliament Ms. Winnie Madikizela Mandela.

When she took to the podium, Semenya fondly recalled her coach's advice "'You know girl, you can do it.' Before the final, he just told me, 'You can let them lead, then last 200, kill them'."

IAAF Blasted

President Zuma blasted the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) for violating the human rights of an 18 year old Semenya. In a prepared speech President Zuma charged “We wish to register our displeasure at the manner in which Ms. Semenya has been treated. Ms. Semenya has also reminded the world of the importance of the rights to human dignity and privacy.”

Ms. Madikizela-Mandela electrified the crowd in her signature style “We are here to tell the whole world how proud we are of our little girl. They can write what they like, we are proud of her.”

In the same way that Semenya treated her critics with disdain when they first questioned her womanhood after winning the race in Berlin, the powerful Ms. Madikizela-Mandela was equally disdainful of the IAAF when she said “To the world out there who conducted those pseudo-tests, they can stuff their insult. This is our little girl and nobody is going to perform any tests on her.”

The Spark of Controversy

Semenya’s impressive performance in the 800m track and field was overshadowed by questions raised over her gender which painfully deprived her of the opportunity to relish her golden victory and breached her confidentiality with the IAAF. The whole gender question was originally attributed to Australia but the President of Athletics South Africa Mr. Leornard Chuene has come out to say that it was a media company in South Africa (has since been identified) that sparked the controversy when it sent “a story” to IAAF in March and this led to the battery of tests of Semenya. Semenya was subjected to all kinds of physical checking like sniffing for illegal genitalia. However it was an Australian newspaper Age which championed the story of Semenya being a male and predicted she was likely to be disqualified from the women’s 800m race on Wednesday night. The question is where did the Australians get this idea from?

Where Are the White South Africans?

The intrepid Mr. Malema posed a thorny question that drew attention to the virtual absence of White South Africans (missing in action) when they should be part of the contingent that had gathered here in their thousands in a show of support for a traumatized Semenya. This viewpoint was given credence by Mr. Chuene’s remarks “Let me say something rude here; why can’t we stand behind Caster in the same way that the whole country rallied behind Oscar Pistorius when the IAAF said his blades were giving him an unfair advantage?”

Oscar Pistorius (White athlete) is another great South African hero who trounced the competition despite being a double amputee but was disqualified by the IAAF which changed the rules that later ruled his blades to be giving him a competitive advantage over other athletes the position that subsequently got rejected by the court judge. The whole of South Africa, Black and White, rallied behind Pistorious something that is visibly lacking in this case with respect to the White supporters (Semenya is a Black athlete) even though Semenya was victimized by the same sports body that victimized Pistorious.

Another Golden Boy Mbulaeni Mulaudzi

Despite being eclipsed by the limelight of Semenya, there is another golden boy and a legend in his own right Mbulaeni Mulaudzi from the Limpopo Province same as Semenya. It was on the last day of the Olympics when Mbulaeni, who was running in the outside lane, dictated the pace and changed the gears in his own time as he later put it. He began to accelerate in the last 200m and went out to clinch the gold. This is the second gold medal having won another gold in Budapest in 2004. The athletic dominance of Mulaudzi renders him an irrefutable King of the men's 800m and together with Semenya, they have made South Africa the Ruler of 800m.

Another athlete who made South Africa proud is Khotso Mokoena who clinched silver in the long jump. These athletes and many not mentioned in this article have put South Africa well on her quest for 12 medals in the London’s 2012 Olympic Games to be held on July 27th to August 2nd. Semenya along with her colleagues have vindicated South Africa’s athletic talent and made good on the promise of excellence.

Conclusion

The massive show of support for Semenya and her colleagues put the IAAF world to shame. The great Msholozi set a good example that the sons and daughters of the African soil who represent the land of the ancestors abroad must be protected under the powerful wings of the motherland South Africa. The political heavyweights like the intrepid Mr. Malema and the indefatigable Ms. Madikizela-Mandela demonstrated an impregnable force in the great struggle for South African freedom and advancement.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.