Skip to main content

Just before the FIFA 2010 World Cup (2010)


As the FIFA World Cup is about to kick off in Russia I am reminded of what I wrote before the 2010 one in South Africa. : I can still vividly remember the day FIFA decided to give Africa a chance to host its first soccer world cup. I wrote in this column of the excitement as I watched the event on TV in the town of Springs. I can also recall the disappointment I had when I went back to my suburb blaring the hooter and people behaved as if they don’t know what was going on. It brought to me, once more, how divided a nation we were. My excitement made it difficult for me to sit down at home. I could not understand the stoic posture of former President Mandela’s security guards when these news were announced. One of them was a son of Paarl whom I later asked about his state of mind at that moment. He told me that his work demand that he suppress his emotions and focus on the job as that moment could have been an opportunity for would-be assassins.
A lot has happened and have been said since that day as we are now less than a hundred days from hosting the first Soccer World Cup in Africa. Beautiful stadiums have been built whereas many claimed that this country will not be ready to host the world football. Some are still questioning the wisdom in building world class stadiums in a sea of poverty that is South Africa. One of the loud voices in this regard is business woman and academic Mamphela Ramphele. I listened to her making this point in a conference and asked myself why did we invite the world when we don’t want to build world-class facilities.
This country has managed to host a world-class FIFA Confederations Cup. The world watched as champions of different soccer playing regions strutted their staff in Mzantsi. I cannot recall some of them being murdered or maimed in any way. A scare was when Egypt shouted that they had been robbed in their hotel. We latter heard hat the soccer players had decided to be night players as well by hosting “ladies of the night” in their hotel rooms. This did not make it right for them to be robbed; all it says is that maybe if they had avoided breaking our laws they could have been safe.
There were hopes that at least two towns in the Boland could be hosting teams but by the time of writing this column none had succeeded in securing one. I read somewhere that there are people who are complaining about the money that has been invested in promoting these towns. They argue that this could have been invested in uplifting the two towns’ citizens. My thinking is that when you are bidding to host a team you are never guaranteed success and if you are not prepared to invest in your bid you might as well not bid. What we should say to these two municipalities in our region is that they should review objectively their strategies in this regard and see whether they could have done some things better.
We also need to explain that not hosting a team does not mean that there will be no opportunities in the area of tourism. Those who are involved in marketing the towns and its products have got to double their effort to ensure that soccer fans and other visitors come to our region. There is research to the effect that people do not only go to watch the games during a world cup by they also get to see the country. This is because, for other people, it is an opportunity that might not present itself again.
A disturbing factor is the fear that accommodation establishments and other tourist attractions might unreasonably hike their prices to exploit this period. This will be unfortunate as it will lead to our tourism industry suffering beyond the world cup. We do not want to be known as an expensive destination. This does not mean that our establishments should be dirt cheap so as not to recoup their inputs.



In about 98 days the FIFA World Cup will kick off on our back yard and I see a rainbow nation that is mostly excited. Please let us make ourselves proud.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Mandela I celebrate Public Friends Friends except acquaintances Only Me Custom Close Friends Hi Phaphs See all lists... Department of Science and Technology Drakenstein Municipality Pretoria, South Africa Area Drakenstein municipality Hamburg, Germany Area RED TRADE Impala Platinum Cape Winelands District Municipality Stellenbosch, Western Cape Area Family Acquaintances Go Back The former president of South Africa Nelso n Rolihlahla Mandela is no longer physically with us but his memory lives on.   South Africa still become abuzz with celebrations to honour the great man on his birth date.   Many people commemorate what is known as Mandela day by spending 67 minutes of doing good on that day.  The campaign is based on the 67 years Mandela spent in the service of his fellow man.  I see that the new Cape Town Mayor Patricia De lille got what led to former Mayor Peter Marais fired right.  She named a street in Cape Town after Nelson...
2 comments
Read more

Paarl Uprising 1962

Growing up in Mbekweni I got used to being associated with the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC/Poqo) when visiting other townships. This is because Paarl has been viewed as a PAC stronghold since the 1962 Paarl uprising that was led by that organisation. The history of the PAC struggles can not be told without mentioning Paarl 1962. That was when a mass uprising consisting of hundreds of men took place. They marched in the morning of November 22 from Mbekweni and Langabuya to town with the intent of attacking the police station and prison. The Late Minister of Justice in the ANC led government Dullar Omar recalled this event when accepting an award for Human Rights in 2004. Omar who, in 1963, was one of the lawyers who were to defend the men recalled that: “ The PAC was particularly active in Paarl. Suddenly hardly without any notice the so-called Paarl riots (the Poqo uprising) exploded on the South African scene. These poor migrant workers had had enough. They marched through...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arriving in Germany

I left South Africa on July 31, 2012 and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany on the morning of August 1 on what was my first trip overseas.      I went there as part of a group eleven professionals from Southern Africa.    There were four South Africans, three Zambians, two Zimbabweans, one person each from Swaziland and Malawi.    I was the only one from the Western Cape and the other South Africans were based in Gauteng.     The majority in our group, seven in total, were economists.    The group varied in age from just over twenty years to just over fourty.    We were part of a one year program called the International Leadership Training in Regional Economic Development and Trade.    Four months of our time in Germany was to be spent as interns in different companies and organizations.    The program is organized and hosted by the Deutsche Gesselschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GI...
2 comments
Read more