By Brian Okoth
South Africans have taken to social media to demand a public holiday after the Springboks beat New Zealand in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final in France to secure a record fourth title on Saturday.
On October 16, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he would "consider" declaring a public holiday should South Africa win the Rugby World Cup.
He spoke in Cape Town at the Green Hydrogen Summit a day after South Africa beat France 29-28 in the quarter-final to book a semi-final date with England.
"South Africans are revelling in this incredible success that our boys have achieved in Paris. Many of them felt that we should declare today (Monday, October 16) as a public holiday, and I declined and said that we will only consider that if they win the final, at which I will personally be present," Ramaphosa said after the quarter-final victory.
'A lot of messages'
South Africa went ahead to beat England 16-15 in the semi-final on October 21, and eventually 12-11 against New Zealand on October 28 to be crowned winners of the tournament.
On Thursday, ahead of the Saturday final, President Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that the head of state was seriously considering the public holiday promise should Springboks win a record fourth world title.
"The president has received a lot of messages in this regard (public holiday declaration) via us and directly. South Africans from all walks of life have reached out to him. He said to me I must relay the fact that he's considering the request," Magwenya told journalists in South Africa.
After the Springboks held on to secure a slim but deserved victory against the All Blacks on Saturday, South Africans took to X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook to ask the president to honour his pledge.
Address to the nation
On Sunday, the South African Presidency said on X that Ramaphosa will address the nation on Monday, October 30 at 8pm local time (6pm GMT).
Responding in the comments section, X user Zickie S. said: "Shouldn't he (Ramaphosa) be addressing the nation today (Sunday) at 8pm?"
Lynette Engelbrecht said: "It (address to the nation) will be a little too late. If you want to announce Monday a public holiday, you need to meet with us tonight."
On Saturday, South Africa became the first country to lift the Rugby World Cup trophy four times. New Zealand, the second most successful side, has three world titles.
Best-ranked team in the world
According to the latest Men's World Rugby standings, South Africa are the top-ranked team in the world, followed by New Zealand and Ireland respectively.
France are fourth, England (fifth), Scotland (sixth), Argentina (seventh), Wales (eighth), Australia (ninth) and Fiji (tenth).
Following their 2023 Rugby World Cup victory, South Africa – who had 92.79 points as of October 23 when the last review was done – will score even more points to extend their lead at the summit.
"Men's and Women's World Rugby Rankings are calculated using a 'Points Exchange' system, where sides gain or lose points based on the match result. Other criteria include the relative strength of each team, the margin of victory, and an allowance for home advantage," the World Rugby says on its website.
Namibia are second-best in Africa
Italy (11th), Japan (12th), Portugal (13th), Georgia (14th), Samoa (15th), Tonga (16th), Uruguay (17th), USA (18th), Spain (19th) and Romania (20th) round out the world's top 20 rugby teams, according to the World Rugby.
In Africa, behind South Africa is Namibia, which ranks at position 21 in the world, followed by Zimbabwe (31 globally), Kenya (33 globally) and Uganda (42 globally).
