In many ways world's first human heart transplant has the same meaning for South Africa that sputnik did for Russia. It is a moment of self-confidence and a chance to break out of self-imposed shells. While dedicating a new battery factory last week, the minister of mines and planning suddenly called on the crowd "to stand for a moment - just a brief moment - to pay tribute to the Cape Town team of doctors whose glittering achievement has reaped world fame for South Africa." The crowd rose and cheered and clapped and thumped. The incident reflected the intense national pride generated in South Africa since the University of Cape Town medical team completed the transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. The pride is even more intense than it might ordinarily be in another country because of the peculiar place of South Africa in the world and the feelings of its Afrikaner majority...

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