Lionising De la Rey: Afrikaner identity politics and performative nostalgia in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Bok van Blerk's hit song ‘De la Rey’ invokes the name of a general who led Boer forces against those of the British Empire during the Anglo-Boer or South African War (1899–1902). The ‘Lion of the West Transvaal’ was renowned for his use of guerrilla tactics against the conventional methods of the heavily encumbered British and colonial troops. The performance of the song seems to strike a strong emotional chord with white Afrikaner audiences at a juncture when they appear to be undergoing something of an identity crisis in the throes of the country's transition. Van Blerk's song resonates with those imagining an Afrikaner community as victims of British imperialism, as well as those concerned about the future of their culture and language under an African National Congress government. For many white Afrikaners, nostalgia is not so much a hankering for a bygone era but a projection of a sanitised vision of the past into the future. This paper suggests that performative nostalgia is a useful concept to explain the appeal of the song in the context of the workings of Afrikaner identity politics in post-apartheid South Africa.

Keywords::

• identity politics
• memory
• nostalgia
• Afrikanerness
• De la Rey
• Bok van Blerk

Notes

^1. The CD was launched in March 2006 under the name Jy praat nog steeds my taal and was re-released seven months later with the new title to capitalise on the recognition value of the song ‘De la Rey’.

^2. This is the contemporary British term for the war of 1899–1902. Boer, which literally means ‘farmer’, was the name given to the white settlers who ruled the Orange Free State and South African Republics. Their preferred term for the conflict was the Tweede Vryheidsoorlog (Second War of Freedom). More neutral terms such as the Anglo-Boer or South African War are used in the historical literature.

^3. He was the town's representative in the South African Republic's House of Assembly and a Senator in the Union Parliament.

^4. Mosse (1990) made the case for the near universality of the memorialisation of soldiers’ sacrifices after the First and Second World Wars – although his study is confined to European examples. Demands made by former South African Defence Force veterans for recognition of their sacrifices in the creation of the new South Africa appear to buck this trend; see Baines (2009).

^5. White first-language Afrikaans speakers in South Africa are estimated to number about 2.5 million. The figure has been in steady decline since 1994.

^6. This is evident in the track ‘Habana’ which pays tribute to a current celebrated Springbok rugby player. Because Habana happens to be black, Krog (2007) is inclined to dismiss claims that van Blerk is a closet racist or that he holds a grudge against the new South Africa.

^7. The De la Rey video was uploaded onto YouTube and other social network sites where it enjoys enormous exposure.

^8. See, for instance, Pretorius (2007).

^9. Two Afrikaans radio stations in Namibia removed the song from their playlists apparently because they did not wish to invite political controversy.

^10. Certain Boeremag members were arrested and tried for treason following a series of violent incidents that included sabotage.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gary Baines

Gary Baines is Professor and Head of Department at Rhodes University. His forthcoming book ‘South Africa's Border War: Contested Narratives and Conflicting Memories’ is to be published by Bloomsbury in 2014.