Happy to be in the middle

By THERESA GARNER

Wearing a T-shirt proclaiming himself a South African Kiwi, the leaping springbok superimposed on the silver fern, Rine Bosman's happiness is assured no matter who wins tonight.

Bosman, 30, a New Zealand resident for just a month, describes the clash as a "win-win situation" for him, while readily admitting its importance to both his native and adopted nations.

That importance is evident as, at opposite ends of Auckland's harbourside suburbia, a roaring trade is under way in biltong and boerewors. Being thousands of kilometres from the veldt is no obstacle to a backyard braai (barbecue).

Over the years since the Springboks upset the All Blacks in the World Cup final in 1995 and beat them in the third-place play-off four years later, a flood of South Africans have made their home in New Zealand, most to escape crime and violence.

By 2001, there were 26,061 expatriate South Africans in the country.

Most settled in the East Coast Bays or around the eastern beaches, with a high concentration living in Howick, Botany Downs, Burswood, Half Moon Bay and Bucklands Beach, but families are spread throughout the country, with one even living on Stewart Island.

In between serving customers homesick for South African treats such as military tan-coloured shoe polish and rooibos tea, Mr Bosman, of the South African Kaffee in Browns Bay, goes through the requirements for a braai.

Biltong, he says, "is traditional South African rugby food".

The beef, which is dried, salted and spiced, goes for $35 a kilo, and is best washed down with a Windhoek Lager and followed up with a piece or two of koeksuster, a decadent deep-fried pastry soaked in syrup.

Mr Bosman's brother Jaco is now on the lookout for the right premises for a South African coffeeshop, partly to declutter the aisles of his retail shop.

"Look at the number of people who socialise in the shop," he says.

"We need a sit-down cafe."

While happy to pose with a Cape baboon shot by his son after it frightened black children collecting firewood, he did not want to pose with a South African flag, as he wanted to be "politically correct".

"I'm in the middle," he said.

At Highland Park shopping centre in Manukau City, icon South African shop Beef on the Beach stocks piles of the "best Namibian hardwood" and smoked snoek with a sign saying, "Yes, its true man!"

The reason is that South Africans "don't believe it's snoek and that we catch it in New Zealand", says owner Martin Ralph, who describes his mixed-race ancestry as "mixed marsala".

Mr Ralph, a former Durbanite, has been in New Zealand for seven years.

"I am an All Blacks supporter now. I don't say that too loudly now as it's not good for business," he says through a massive smile.

"I don't know the South African players coming through.

"This is our home now and we've got to go with what's good for the country."

His children consider themselves New Zealanders, although their friends "don't allow them to be Kiwis when the rugby is on".

"It doesn't worry me who is winning or losing, so long as it's a good game. Any excuse for a party, eh?"

While the love of rugby unites the two cultures, life as an immigrant can be hard.

A Human Rights Commission advertising campaign against intolerance was based on findings that many New Zealanders were intolerant of immigrants, with white South Africans getting a "real bashing".

The SANZTrust website warns expatriates of an emotional rollercoaster which is "quite normal".

"Kiwis generally won't make an effort to help you. It will therefore be up to you to reach out and make contact with others."

One group which aims to bridge the gaps is the Afrikaans Club, which acknowledges on its website "the fact that we come from a country which has a volatile history for various reasons".

It wants its 1500 member families to "introduce Afrikaans speakers as the positive contributors to New Zealand society as we believe we are".

Its chairman, Philip Langenhoven, says many South Africans will feel "conflicted" tonight, particularly if there are different allegiances in the same household.

But he says that as immigrants, they have the luxury of genuinely supporting two teams.



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