Nkosana Zali
More than 3 million people from around the world sat at seats in different stadia around our country as we hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup ™. The uncertainties, doubts and distrusts over our ability to deliver this world showpiece had fallen by the wayside. Throughout the history of the World Cup, only the USA and Germany managed to draw that number of people to the stadia as South Africa did. What a remarkable feat!
We also take into account that three billion people watched the final throughout the world. That is an enviable international marketing opportunity for our country.
There are also the big soft gains of a rally around the national flag reminiscent of the 1994 ushering in of democracy; the vuvuzelas behind Ghana that gave many goose bumps and so on. Every South African, black and white, joined the entire continent when it had its “I am an African” moment. Diego Forlan... Oh, Diego Forlan.
During this euphoria, many who believe that science has steeled them, went about studying and analysing this nation that was so preoccupied with welcoming international guests. These scholars then warned that this world spectacle was soon to prove to be our nemesis; suggesting that we were somehow capable of putting up a grin for the Iberians, all the Koreas, even the Australians who wanted to take our shine away a few years ago. We would be unable however to embrace our own African brothers and sisters after the party.
We laughed it off as just another ploy to rubbish the country. It was inadequate that this ‘incapable’ republic had completed stadia a year before the World Cup. We had new roads and the scramble for tickets made some feel a third world war was imminent. Everyone wanted to come to this land. Then a racist bigot dies a humiliating death and the doomsayers continued to bash the country. Yet the hotels and B & Bs received thousands of enquiries – none of them with special security requests like machete-proof vests or armoured taxis. Travel agencies and the airports struggled to meet the demand for flights and accommodation. Suddenly, this train seemed unstoppable. To rub salt into this wound, the Gautrain was launched.
But this nascent democracy has many areas of vulnerability. The fragile nature of its race relations and the grinding poverty that the majority live under remain the main source of focus for the ruling party. It is these issues that can be manipulated for shallow ends.
The issues raised here are not about our capability to host the world. It is a question of wanting to portray Africa as a failed continent, and South Africa as lacking nationhood. It is assumed that by even giving us a chance to host the world’s most prestigious competition, the spots will stay the same. Africans will devour each other forever.
There should be no programme that Africa will rally around and from which launch an offensive against the poverty that marauds her. Those who peddled this actually know that the curtain never falls for any country that hosts the World Cup. The matches and ceremonies may come and go, but the curtain never falls.
South Africa must resist xenophobia. We might have been the first hosts to bomb out during the group phase of the World Cup, but we cannot be the only hosts who never leveraged the goodwill that comes with the World Cup. Our ticket remains valid so we must soar for our country, our continent and the world that knows now we all are one!
