Friday the 11th of July was a great day to be South African, and to be African. This day was the official opening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa – a truly historic moment for the continent! And there was everything to show for with South Africa playing against Mexico in the opening match. The game ended in a stalemate but South Africans thought they had every reason to be proud of Bafana Bafana, The Boys.
It was an outstanding atmosphere at the public viewing park in Sandton where I watched the game. South Africans from all walks of life had also gathered at viewing centers across the nation to witness the opening spectacle. According to official figures from FIFA, over 300,000 people were at the centers. In addition, approximately 10,500,000 also watched in the comfort of their homes and in pubs. Blacks, whites and coloreds had their voices in unison behind the team; the vuvuzelas were really loud whilst some sections of Sandton danced their afternoon away. The official opening ceremony was graced by performances by famous African artists, as well as Grammy Award winning R. Kelly who teamed up with the Soweto Gospel choir in the singing of the official theme song Sign of a Victory. South Africans are really excited to be playing host to the world’s most beautiful game, as evidenced by their behavior. As a foreigner, I was quite moved by what I experienced this afternoon and I am quite sure other nationals felt the same way. I came across fans from Costa Rica, Ireland, the United States (Seattle), England, Argentina, Nigeria and Korean Republic. Visitors to the rainbow nation are going to experience a world cup with a different touch to it, an African World Cup. This was an absolutely successful official opening, and South Africa truly made the continent proud. 
Over the past week, there have been a number of issues that have arisen concerning the tournament. On the second day, South Africa met the security requirements after matches involving England, the United States and Argentina were played without incidents. This security capacity has been carried on to other big games, the only glitch being that of a laser pen that was brought into Ellis Park Stadium. However, FIFA quickly reiterated that security personnel should bar these pens from getting into stadiums at all costs. Unfortunately, Sunday (the 13th) witnessed one of the fears that were raised prior to the beginning of the tournament: labor action. The security personnel that were contracted to man stadiums for the duration of the tournament staged demonstration outside the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban citing unfulfilled contract clauses. This derailed tournament plans and forced the Local Organizing Committee to negotiate with the South African Police Services for the latter to assume security duties at all venues across the country, which effectively meant over two thousand low-income security guards were fired. Details that have emerged and cited in media reports are that the parent company of Stallion Security had promised to pay the guards $200 each at the end of the tournament, a fraction more than the regular wage…“because it is the world cup”. Other guards claim that they enrolled for short-courses in event management, and others had erected temporary shelters in inner city Johannesburg’s Park Station because they could not afford commuting to their homes. Who is being short-changed? In addition, the National Union of Miners (NUM) consisting also of workers from the electricity company, ESCOM, have mass action set for Friday (18th) in response to stalled negotiations. Speaking to eNews, the chairman of NUM cited that their concerns lie with their families first before those of the country and the World Cup: if lights go out and there is no one to turn them back on is none of the workers’ concern.
On Wednesday, South Africa was humbled 0 – 3 by Uruguay in their second group game and this might prove to have dire consequences on the socio-political discourse. The next day, Thursday, I did not hear the sound of the vuvuzela neither did I see anyone wearing a Bafana Bafana jersey in Springs town. Does this spell the end of the experience for South Africans? This tournament was meant to emulate the feat achieved by the 1995 Rugby World Cup when the South African Springboks managed to win the tournament on their way to uniting a racially-divided nation. Now, if South Africa fails to make the second round of the tournament, what effect could this have on the expectations of uniting an economically-divided country? The team has a remote mathematical chance of making it into the round of sixteen, needing a massive victory against 2006 runners-up France whilst hoping that either Uruguay or Mexico win when the two Latin-American sides meet on the 22nd. Can the any of the teams save the country’s socio-political hopes?
No comments:
Post a Comment