Sundays are always one of those relaxed yet 'intellectual'
days for me as I would patiently browse through all different types of
newspapers. I read an article about Former Springbok Captain, Joost Van Der
Westhuizen, and his fight with motor-neural disease.
This was not something new to me as the slow-poison disease
that's been affecting Van Der Westhuizen has made circulation around Pretoria
for some time now. Many of us knew that he had a certain number of months left
to live as they would often mention in the media. "Geez! That must be a
living nightmare, knowing the exact month you going to kick the bucket!"
One would have most probably have said to himself or while gossiping about on
the dinner table with the rest of their family members.
But in fact the story about Van Der Westhuizen had struck
the hearts of many South Africans when the 1995 IRB World Cup Winning Springbok
appeared on MNet's Carte Blanche. Unable to speak with the passion and desire
he had to conduct himself with in interviews and the changing rooms towards his
teammates, it was really painful watching Van Der Westhuizen battling like that
on TV. One could never have imaged the Loftus Versveld hero in such a state of
pain, although he seemed to be in such good spirits.
With the public having to see their 'J9' (as he's nicknamed
by his fans) weakened and filled with sadness in his eyes, Social networks such
as Twitter and Facebook went into frantic about supporting Van Der Westhuizen.
Only after witnessing the trauma Joost had been going through on TV and people
having their queries about his situation, it’s was only then in the following
morning that the media had started to take responsibility about initiating some
sort of help support structures for him.
My only problem is that the media was all over Joost when he
was accused of allegedly cheating on his wife and having a sex tape. Yet when
the news came out that he was suffering from motor-neural disease, many people
were much concerned and worried, yes I agree, but I felt had took the news of
the situation quite lightly. Up until the Carte Blanche episode had appeared on
our screens on the evening of September 4, many of us, the South African
public, kept labelling him as 'The rugby star that cheated on his wife'. We
such bastards though. How dare we make such remarks?
I recently saw an advert in the Pretoria News were McCarthy
Ford Mazda Pretoria East had a competition, sponsoring three vehicles to the
Joost Van Der Westhuizen J9 Foundation. I truly believe that this was a good
initiative as the Springbok legend still has a fighting chance. If you eager on
supporting the Joost Van Der Westhuizen J9 Foundation, feel free to do so on www.joost.co.za to find more information about
the course.
-Mandilulame Manjezi
@JizzyJakes
@JizzyJakes
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