The End of the World Cup

Last Wednesday night Jason, Amin, Dhrusti, and myself joined in the celebration of the last game being held here in Durban, making our way to the North Coast fan park. These fan parks were first established by FIFA in 2006 for the Germany world cup and serve as the best place to watch the game if you can’t make it into the stadium with a huge screen and carnival like atmosphere. This specific fan park is located on the beach in the heart of Durban’s Golden Mile.

It was an unbelievable atmosphere, with South Africans, Germans and Spanish coming in droves (the fan parks in Durban have reportedly been among the best supported in the country). As far as the eye could see there were people waving flags and sporting their nations colors, and this was hours before the game. It was estimated that 20,000 people were at this fan park alone, with authorities forced to restrict admission by game time to ensure order.

The packed crowd at the Fan Park as performers build up the excitement before the game.

While our group of nine did not choose South Africa as a destination based on the World Cup, the same cannot be said for the millions of other visitors to the country over the past month. It has been extraordinary to witness the country so alive with national spirit, not only for their beloved Bafana Bafana, but for the success of the games as a whole. People were given weeks off from work, the schools were closed, and the country was riveted each night watching the games. That said, the final game has now passed and the nation’s perspective must change to the long term impact for the country. This is framed by the horror story of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where stadia stand derelict and decrepit from lack of use.

Most of the people working class people I have encountered here in Wentworth have glowingly expressed a positive outlook focusing on less tangible goods. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard something along the lines of “the country can be proud of it’s effort” or “we showed the world what we can do.” Many of these same people had serious doubts as to whether the country could serve as a safe and suitable host, but now that it has, they believe everything will change. The police presence will remain elevated, the cities vibrant, and the people unified. This standpoint envisions the cup as a coming out party for how far the post-apartheid Rainbow nation has come and a demonstration that the country has arrived on the global scale. They think such an arrival will incur benefits of tourism and economic investment for some time to come.

Many of the Afrikaners and upper-class have conversely expressed incredibly pessimistic feelings that this was simply a 30 day reprieve for which taxes were raised to exorbitant levels without an appropriate return. These people largely criticize the ANC’s management and choices with regard to development. For example here in Durban there was a large Rugby stadium, ABSA stadium, that could have been upgraded rather than building the entirely new Moses Mabhida stadium. While the new stadium is state of the art and unquestionably spectacular, the same stadium experience could have been achieved at far less expense to the community. The renovation was favored by the incoming Democratic Alliance party, but the outgoing ANC signed the deal for the new stadium on their final morning in office. Another one of the main problems mentioned has come in attempting even handed negotiations with FIFA on key issues such as revenue sharing and infrastructure choices. FIFA is a soccer organization, but foremost it is a business- a very good one at that. Because it is so competitive to get a World Cup, the people at FIFA have all of the leverage when it comes to negotiating. For example the MP we spoke with Gareth Morgan gave the story of how the Cape Town stadium was located. The local government was going to locate the new stadium in a nearby township, but instead FIFA president Sepp Blatter hopped into a helicopter and from the air picked out the spot he wanted.

As students it is great that we get the unique opportunity to experience the country both during the cup and after. The country has put on it’s best face for the world and from all accounts it has been an immensely successful World Cup athletically and economically; nevertheless, as Gareth put it, “Soon were going to wake up with a world cup hangover and have to face the real problems of South Africa.”