Recently actress and TV presenter Minnie Dlamini decided to jot down a love letter to the media which she posted on her Tumblr account. Okay, so we’re lying…It was far from being a love letter but in it she describes the pressures of being in the public eye and the lack of patriotism we as South Africans show towards our national soccer team. We’re sorry Minnie, we’ll try harder to be more patriotic, especially after yesterday’s game between Bafana and the Angola. As for our interest in you, we’re not making any promises.

Read her letter below:

My Two Weeks of Growth…

“What a rough 2weeks I’ve experienced!!! This media attention really took its toll on little old me. Although I have not disclosed who I am or am not involved with, a picture does speak a 1000 words… LOL

More than the uncomfortable invasion of my privacy and the not-so-common paparazzi style of journalism conveyed in papers and magazines these past two weeks, what upset me most was the blatant lack of patriotism – in the quest to get the “scoop”!

With Bafana Bafana in the biggest tournament since FIFA 2010, in fact with the entire nation expecting them to repeat the heroics of the team of 1996 – instead of supporting them during AFCON we choose to entertain distracting tabloid stories. Our country’s pride is being displayed – in the form of soccer – and we’re acting like its just a random match on a random day.

I think it’s time we adopt the mentality of the people of the USA. Where they believe in and fully support everything American. No matter the speculation, the drama; they remain true patriots until the very end. Where national pride is concerned – everything comes to a standstill – this is evidenced even in the UK. Here’s my thing; a story is a story. This one littered with faceless and nameless “close” sources. But do we now put that before our own pride as a nation? Where we have welcomed the continent’s top teams.

It saddens me to see a player’s injury being the butt of social media jokes and becomes a national mockery. One thing I learnt from my recent interview with Tony Kgoroge – by Nicky Greenwall, for Screentime – was that we live in a different society from pre-1994. This society we live in does not embody the saying “an injury to one, is an injury to all” that comrades used to have. We are all about one-man ship, screw the rest. When one falls or faults – that’s an opportunity to mock and ridicule them – all while expecting them to bring their A-Game forward.

I fully support Bafana Bafana in the AFCON 2013 and I put my country’s pride in their feet, as they’ve been selected amongst many to do the job. Let us, as a nation dubbed to embody the spirit of UBUNTU, embody that spirit.

With the full support of from us, as their fellow country men and women, our boys will go out there not trying to prove the nation that they can, but showing the continent and the world that we WILL!!!”

Ngiyaziqhenya ngokuba ngingowase Ningizim’Africa (I’m proud to be South African)

Do YOU?

What do you think of Minnie’s open letter to the media?