Image: SuppliedSport has long occupied a complex and contradictory place in South Africa’s history - both past and present. It has been a site of exclusion and division, but also one of unity, resistance and transformation.
At a time when questions of identity, belonging and social cohesion remained central to the country’s trajectory, renewed scholarly attention to sport offered critical insights into how societies imagine themselves.
These questions were recently foregrounded at the Jaap Durand Memorial Seminar hosted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC), where scholars reflected on the intersection of sport, history and nationhood. The seminar provided a space for critical engagement with how sport continues to shape — and be shaped by — broader social, political and cultural dynamics in South Africa.
Rather than viewing sport purely as recreation or spectacle, the seminar discussions emphasised its role as a powerful social and intellectual force. Research emerging from this work positioned sport as a lens through which to interrogate issues of citizenship, memory and belonging.
Professor Hein Willemse is the Jaap Durand Chair, University of the Western Cape and Professor Emeritus, University of Pretoria. As editor of the publication emanating from the event, Prof Willemse said: “While sport is often celebrated as a powerful vehicle for national identity, a unifying force capable of transcending division and fostering collective pride, we must also remember that in the large scheme of things, we also need to address the silences in that narrative. For instance, who are those who have been left behind, or the lack of facilities, or those whose potential could not be realised.”
Historically, sport in South Africa reflected the deep inequalities of a divided society. Access, participation and representation were structured along racial and class lines, reinforcing broader systems of exclusion. Yet, at the same time, sport became a powerful site of resistance, where communities asserted dignity and identity despite systemic marginalisation.
These tensions persist in the present. While sport is often celebrated as a unifying force, underlying inequalities continue to shape who participates, who is represented and who benefits.
At the same time, sport retains a unique capacity to create moments of shared belonging. Whether through international competition or local sporting cultures, these moments can foster a sense of unity that transcends difference.
However, as the seminar highlighted, such unity is never automatic; it must be consciously built and sustained. Ultimately, sport is not only about competition. It is about the stories we share about ourselves and the kind of nation we strive to become.
South African Sport and the Nation brings together the proceedings of a Jaap Durand Chair Seminar held on 22 April 2026 at UWC. The event was jointly sponsored by the Jaap Durand Chair and the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences.
