“Bafana Bafana winning the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) wasn’t just a new trophy to add to the cabinet; it was a grand reintroduction of South Africa onto the global footballing stage in its democratic glory. The team was imbued with political meaning and became another representation of the Rainbow Nation project. But like the fantasy of a unified nation, that image of Bafana would come to mirror the realities of South African politics. For almost 30 years, the team would demonstrate the corrosive nature of government corruption. …”
Africa Is a Country