Latest news with #GreatTsek
Mail & Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- Mail & Guardian
Unpacking South Africans' response to ‘the 59ers'
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G) It is Tuesday evening. I am seated with a friend and my son in our favourite restaurant in Bloemfontein. My son listens to our conversation as I note that the 49 Afrikaner migrants (or 59 as some reports suggest) incorrectly and problematically afforded refugee status through executive order by the Trump administration have landed in the US. Their departure is called the 'Great Tsek' on social media. We laugh conspiratorially. South Africans respond to most situations with a trademark humour that inspires much hilarity. We repeat the in-joke in multi-cultural and multi-classed spaces — taxis, buses, lecture halls, at a Sunday braai, in a coffee shop, between co-workers — we evoke the reality of co-created belonging through humour. Our humour, a shared South African-ness irrespective of historicised divisions of race, class, creed or gender, masks our discomfort, or psychological and emotional pain. Whether we are supporting Tyla's right to self-define as coloured — while ridiculing and stereotyping colouredness — and interrogating black Americans' failure to unpack the context of coloured in South Africa, or vituperatively disowning Elon Musk, South Africans have a unique, enmeshed and complex affinity and loyalty to each other. Amorphous and responsive, this loyalty is an organic response to a perceived threat, or a show of appreciation or forgiveness — recall our troetelnaam (pet name) for our president: Cupcake. South African humour and loyalty are revealed on TikTok, Instagram and X. On these platforms we deconstruct the perceptions and slights of 'ordinary' South Africans as we digest and metabolise the news together, as South Africans, and as global citizens in conversation with other global citizens. We find solace in our derision, and the truth etched onto the edges of that laughter. The phrase 'Great Tsek' is an incisive commentary on the double-edged nature of the 59ers' departure. As South African stayers imagine saying that, they remind us of a socio-cultural memory in which white Afrikaners would chase black people from their farms with the word 'voertsek' (go away, get lost). And in return, based on commentary from a few of the emigrants, we can duly imagine the 59ers exclaiming 'voertsek' as they took off from OR Tambo International Airport. The phrase, Great Tsek, thus points to a rejection that is mirrored by those who stay (are left behind) and those who leave. Amid the laughter M, a young black woman who has experienced the harrowing loss of dispossession of family-owned land in the Free State through apartheid's legalised appropriation of land, comments: 'I'm laughing, but they're still South African, man! What are they going to experience there? It doesn't matter that they are white. I worry about them. They are us.' As a national human collective — South Africans — we don't want to be rejected, or 'left behind'. It is a typical human response to excise the offending parties from our collective. But still there are those among us, like my friend, who compassionately tries to understand the reasons for the 59ers' departure, and hopes that they haven't made a mistake that will have enduring negative repercussions. The reasons for emigration are multiple, but this particular departure underscores a severance of ties with the land of their birth, our South African humour, and much more that embodies a particular national expression of humanity. The 59ers are not Europeans; much less American. They are South Africans; and we are a complicated mengelmoes (mixture) of peoples who embody various amalgamated traditions, languages, orientations, humour, oppressions and battle scars. Violence, risk and resilience are endemic to the South African narrative, no matter which ethnic tributary you lay claim to as you arrive here on the shores of a contemporary South Africa that is being lived in the trenches and robustly debated on the streets of social media. Those who speak, who stay, who worstel (struggle) with the inadequacies of the state, birth South Africa's next chapter in which every lineage and narrative have value. We navigate turbulent racialised, ethnicised and citizenship currents, potholed roads and jagged promises of well-being for all in rickety boats, maladapted vehicles and kaal voete (bare feet) together. We are not necessarily seasoned or adequately equipped; and the shoreline of our dreams is unfamiliar, with the horizon blurred and distant. But for those who stay, the vision of a South Africa that supports the well-being of all her citizens inspires us to put our shoulders to the wheel, and to live not only for ourselves but for others. Each one who voluntarily remains behind assumes an active role in envisioning, dreaming, crafting, moulding and building South Africa's next chapter. Each one. And so, during supper when my son asks what the word 'colonisation' means I try simply to chart South Africa's convoluted history. His response — 'not all white people are like that' — is not a negation of our past. Rather his words confirm, as a seven-year-old, that his immediate and direct experience does not align with our 'black and white' histories. They offer a moment of pause, as I come to terms with what my lineage has experienced pre-apartheid, what I have experienced during and post-apartheid and the future my son is living into existence. He demands from me, and you, a conscious recognition of how far we have travelled as South Africans to be here — constructing our futures with clear sight of our histories. His words defy an easy, glib and uncontextualised narrative of what makes us South African. And, like M, he inspires us to accept that we are complex and incomplete as South Africans, whether at home, or in the US, without each other. Professor Joy Owen is the head of the department of anthropology at the University of the Free State.
22-05-2025
- Politics
Travelstart's 'Great Tsek' campaign upsets Afrikaners
Travel agency Travelstart has been dragged on social media over a campaign mocking Afrikaner 'refugees'. This comes a week after 49 white South Africans arrived in the US under President Donald Trump's resettlement programme. In an electronic newsletter this week, Travelstart showed flames to the 49 Afrikaner 'refugees' who touched down in the US last week. The campaign used the tagline, the Great Tsek, playing on the Great Trek, which was a significant event for Dutch-speaking people in South Africa. The campaign featured an image of a black and white South African laughing together while sharing a beverage. The text read, 'Terrible things are happening in South Africa.' It continued: 'Didnt partake in the Great Tsek? You're in luck because you can still enjoy a lekker braai in Cape Town or jive like there is no tomorrow in Joburg. Referring to Afrikaners and the US, it added: 'Let the tsekkers make Uncle Sam's Land Great Again, South Africa has always been great!' On social media, many South Africans criticised Travelstart for mocking Afrikaners interested in the refugee status programme. Former Olympic swimmer Roland Schoeman posted on his X account: ' thinks mocking Afrikaners who fled their home due to crime, fear, and persecution is good marketing? That trauma is your punchline?' In a YouTube video, ex-DA MP Renaldo Gouws asked the travel agency, 'Is this a joke to you? When did it become acceptable to mock people for their lived experiences?'. Here is what others had to say… @jac1702: 'The latest email ads are in extremely bad taste. Calling fellow South Africans 'Tsekkers' is disgusting, irrespective of your personally held opinions on the refugees.' @DaleSparrow: 'Travelstart, you should have learned that cheap shots at victims aligned with mass media outlets are always a bad call. We will avoid you like the plague.' @traceyh101: 'Nothing like a tone-deaf PR campaign to remind us which companies aren't listening.' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
WATCH: Witty TikToker imagines a 2085 history lesson on 'The Great Tsek of 2025'
TikTok user pretends to be a history teacher in 2085. Image: TikTok A South African TikTok user, @dndndognerd, has the internet in stitches after sharing a series of hilarious videos in which she pretends to be a teacher imagining a history lesson in 2085. In these videos, she quizzes her make-believe learners about what she refers to as the 'Great Tsek of 2025", a mock reference to the Afrikaaners who emigrated from South Africa to America. Coming across as a very stern teacher, she asks the learners to open their history books and then proceeds to question them on the topic of the 'Great Tsek'. 'Who can tell me when in 2025 did the 'Great Tsek' happen?' she asks the class. One of the fictional learners, whom she named Kobus, responds, 'May 2025.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ She then goes on to ask the learners why the 'Great Tsek' happened. Pretending to be another learner named Ntokozo she answers, 'Yes, because the voortsekkers were not happy with equality and they were trying to victimise themselves and then they tried to commit treason and it didn't work and they accidentally ended up with 'refugee status'. Her final question to the class centred around why so many people were angry at the voortsekkers for the move. A learner named Mark, who seems to have a bit of a dirty mouth, responded that they thought the rest of the work was stupid. The humorous skit has been viewed over 900,000 times, with thousands of people jumping into the comment section responding to the witty clip. 'Now I want to time travel… Be in this class… pass the term… write a whole essay… And focus on how that impacted Brakpan,' one user commented. Another said, 'South Africa is a movie. I'm telling you. The most diverse country in the world. Hate or love us, it's your business.' The TikToker went on to create more videos around the same topic. In another skit, she asks the class what happened to the voorstekkers when they realised there was no biltong in America. One of the imaginary learners responded that it was the 'biltong revolution' that happened in 2026. With sharp wit and satire, her videos blend humour and social commentary in a way that clearly resonates with South African TikTok users. IOL Entertainment
