When the Vuvuzelas Fall Silent

I still think that the money spent on building new stadia was a waste of public resources, even though – in fairness – the public works programme that it created some jobs at a time when the world economy went through a crisis. FIFA and their friends in South Africa have certainly made a fortune even if some of this has ‘trickled down’ to the poor guys who sell flags at stop lights.

As the World Cup kick-off approached and infrastructure developments remained in varying degrees of incompletion my sense of an organisational disaster loomed. The remembrances of past ESKOM black-outs, and regular ‘industrial action’, filled me with foreboding that it was going to be a mess. Rumours of possible Al Qaida attacks, and the realisation that the focus of policing during the period would be on the stadia and places where the soccer tourists would congregate, added to my sense of unease.

My worst nightmares have proven largely unfounded. Despite the unfinishedness of some of the infrastructure, South Africa has adapted to the situation quite admirably. The transport system, though not ideal, has generally worked quite well. ESKOM has behaved itself very well, as have the unions. There has been no terrorist incident, indicating that either this was a hoax or empty threat or that South Africa’s intelligence services (in cooperation with international agencies no doubt) have made highly effective security arrangements. Crime levels, too, have apparently dropped – no systematic attack on tourists, nor even significantly higher levels of crime outside the zones of soccer and tourism.

Has this World Cup been a ‘distraction’ obscuring the real questions the country faces? On one level we have as a nation perhaps pulled together more than in a long time, across race and class lines – even, might I add, by those who otherwise have no interest in sport. A real sense of common patriotism can be felt about the Cup. And we have as a nation become more hospitable to visitors, some folks going out of their way to be welcoming.

All of this is wonderful, making the whole exercise worthwhile. The question, and this is nagging at me, is: when it’s all over where will we go from here? An upsurge in xenophobic violence would kill our good image. If whites and blacks united by this Cup return to their little cultural, political and sporting enclaves all this nation building we’ve experienced will be in vain. We must work to sustain the gains we’ve made after the final whistle today. If we do we will truly as a nation have emerged the winners.