The Challenges of A Multilingual Anthem
The combination of several languages has been a challenge from the onset. For the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Morné du Plessis suggested that the Springboks learn the part in native African languages of the new anthem, and "they did so with great feeling", according to their instructor Anne Munnik.
Occasionally, the difficulties caused public embarrassment. At a rugby test match between France and South Africa in November 2009, Ras Dumisani performed the South African national anthem, singing off-key and not knowing all the words.
On the 23 August 2011, Ard Matthews suffered a similar fate on national television, when he was asked to perform the anthem at the announcement of the Springbok World Cup team. He posted a public apology and vowed to go forward and continue to sing the anthem correctly whenever opportunity arises.
During a pre-Olympic field hockey tournament held in London in June 2012, the organisers mistakenly played Die Stem prior to a game between the South African and Great Britain women's teams
Read more about this topic: National Anthem Of South Africa
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