Why South Africa's '10th province' isn't a place. It's every one of us abroad
Geoff Johnsonposted something this week that stopped me mid-scroll. Geoff runs the annual SA charity golf day, and I’ve known him for years through the expat and business circles here in London. He doesn’t do. . .
Geoff Johnsonposted something this week that stopped me mid-scroll. Geoff runs the annual SA charity golf day, and I’ve known him for years through the expat and business circles here in London. He doesn’t do sentimental posts often. But this one was worth sharing. Thirty years to the day since Mandela’s state visit to the UK, Geoff reminded his network of something Mandela once said to a small group of South Africans in London. I hadn’t thought about that trip in years. The story behind it is worth telling properly. The 1996 state visit that started itMandela’s state visit ran from 9 to 12 July 1996. It was his first as president, and the itinerary was packed. He met the Queen at Buckingham Palace, addressed British business leaders at the CBI, and secured a £60 million aid pledge from Prime Minister John Major. On the final day, 12 July, he visited Brixton, where more than 12 000 people crowded the streets to see him. Later that day, he also crossed Trafalgar Square in a procession to South Africa House, the old apartheid-era embassy that had become the High Commission of the new Rainbow Nation. It’s there, according toGeoff’s post, that Mandela addressed a small group of South Africans living in Britain. He told them something simple: that South Africans will always be South Africans, wherever in the world they live. Geoff calls this idea the “10th province”. Not a place on a map, but every South African living outside the country’s borders. Why it still resonates in PutneyNearly300 000 South African-born people live in Britain today. I’m one of them, 20 years in now. My two sons were born in South Africa too, and whatever passports they carry now, they’ll tell you exactly where they’re from if you ask. Whatever the exact wording that day in 1996, the sentiment behind it is one most expats will recognise. You don’t stop being South African when you leave. You just find new ways to show it, whether that’s cheering on the Springboks from a Putney pub or raising your kids on biltong and Bafana Bafana. Geoff’s message this week was for the 10th province to repost and share. Fair enough. Thirty years on, it’s still worth remembering where that idea came from. Are you part of South Africa’s “10th province”? Email us at[email protected]and tell us your story.