South Africa’s artists and performers are still in the dark about their role in the staging of the world’s biggest sporting event, notes a Mail & Guardian report. Despite having begun discussions in 2006 with arts practitioners, the national department of arts and culture obstinately refuses to release the details of the projects and programmes it will be funding this year. Either they haven’t drawn up such a list or they have, but are afraid to release it for financial or political reasons. Either of those scenarios is terrifying.
As the countdown to the World Cup starts in earnest, Johannesburg’s ladies of the night say they are ready to welcome visitors to our shores. A Sowetan investigation started in the city centre – at the Diplomat Hotel on the corner of Klein and Bree streets. As I walked up the stairs at 8pm I felt my shoes stick to the floor. The tiles are dirty and there are beer bottles lying everywhere. But I am distracted by women in miniskirts, sitting to stairs with their legs open. They are not wearing underwear. I paid R7 at the door and was told a beer costs R15. The sex workers charge R50 for ’a round’ and the same for a blow job. Each room has two beds and a mattress and doubles up as a kitchen. The girls rent out the rooms, with at least five sharing a room. ’It will be business as usual for us during the World Cup,’ says one of them.
South African street vendor Zama Shinga’s face tightens in concentration, carefully repeating the words spoken by her French teacher, who is asking for a discount on her wares. ’Est-ce qu’il y a une réduction? Une ré-du-ction?’ she says, struggling to wrap her mouth around the ’u’, the sentence reverberating in the prefab classroom set up at a Durban police station. Sports24 reports that Durban, home to Africa’s busiest port, will host seven 2010 World Cup matches and expects 100 000 visitors during the month-long tournament that kicks off on June 11. To welcome the guests, the city has begun teaching street vendors foreign languages.
South African Breweries will produce about 30 million more beers for the 2010 World Cup. With an estimated 450,000 visitors expected during this period and an anticipated 4% to 6% increase in demand for beer, the brewer is finalising plans to ensure sufficient supply. The 500ml or 340ml beers will add up to an additional 100,000 hectolitres of beer over and above the normal consumption for June-July, said Alastair Hewitt, head of SAB’s 2010 operations. The Times reports that the beer giant is viewing the period as an additional peak season, much like ’a second Christmas’.
Steven Pienaar is one of the host nation’s brightest chances of success at the 2010 World Cup. The Sunday Indpendent reports that the tenacious attacking midfielder, playing in the English Premier League for Everton, hopes the competition can bring positives for his country off the pitch as well as on it. Pienaar started his career on the streets of Johannesburg, and credits his mother with him making the move to Ajax Cape Town, where he joined the club’s extended youth development system. After six goals in 24 games in South Africa, he moved to the Netherlands and became a member of Ajax Amsterdam’s Eredivisie-winning sides in 2002 and 2004.
In the eyes of many, 2010 is a year for Africa. The 2010 World Cup will be the first in history hosted on the continent. The Voice reports that from the time of the historic announcement of South Africa’s successful bid, many neighbouring countries have been working towards improving their infrastructure and making sure their citizens are ready to take advantage of the Cup’s economic opportunities. Sex workers have not lagged behind. However, this opportunity is likely to come with dangers of harassment, abuse and discrimination under the current legal framework in South Africa, which offers them little or no protection.
Glowing orange on the horizon, a herd of giant steel giraffes greets visitors as they enter Nelspruit, the roof supports for this 2010 World Cup host city’s new 43 500-seat stadium, notes a News24 report. Besides hosting four first-round matches, Nelspruit is the jumping-off point for Kruger National Park, South Africa’s largest game reserve and one of the continent’s most famous safari destinations. The new stadium, a $132m monument to the region’s wildlife, is the work of lead architect Mike Bell, a partner at Cape Town-based firm R & L Architects.
African football chief Issa Hayatou insists the continent’s football decision-makers are yet to decide whether they will be challenging Sepp Blatter’s 12-year reign as FIFA president at the next elections. Last week, Asian Football Confederation boss Muhamed Bin Hammam vowed to present a candidate to run against Blatter when his term expires next year. Sports24 reports that the current FIFA supremo, who turns 74 next month, has been at the helm since 1998 and has already indicated his keenness to continue.
Brand South Africa and MAN Bus and Coaches have created the People’s Bus, a single-decker coach bus that is comfortably equipped for long journeys and furnished with these amenities. It was officially unveiled on 19 February at the MAN Bus and Coaches plant in Olifantsfontein, northeast of Joburg. The People’s Bus was built to garner support for Bafana Bafana ahead of the 2010 World Cup, mobilise every citizen and ratchet up excitement for the tournament.
The fight against Malaria, TB and HIV – 21/02/2010
The 2010 World Cup will present a unique platform to mount the fight against malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV in Africa. The pledge was made by Michael D’Hooghe, chairman of the FIFA Medical Committee at the third International Football Medicine Conference in Rustenburg. ’We must use this 2010 World Cup to fight the big three in Africa. We must fight against malaria, TB and HIV, he said.
The A-Z of 2010 paraphernaliamust-haves – 21/02/2010
City Press recently ran a piece on how much it will cost a ’Bafana Bafana fan’ to watch their favourite team come the 2010 World Cup from June 11 till July 11. However, as the 2010 World Cup approaches and with less than 110 days to go before the big shindig kicks off, Timothy Molobi discovers that entrepreneurs creative juices are flowing freely. This means that fans will have to cough up more to look the part. This week a company launched Vuvuzela-shaped earplugs for those with a problem with the noise at stadiums, while FNB, who are one of Fifa’s partners, launched some custom-made Makarapas.
Foreign fans and players want them banned from 2010 World Cup stadiums. New research says over-exposure to them can cause hearing problems. Plus a row is blazing over who first invented them. Sounding like a cross between an off-key truck horn and angry, trumpeting elephants, many people will argue that you can’t play a tune on the vuvuzela, the instrument of choice of SA’s most fervent football fans. But the Vuvuzela Orchestra, the brainchild of musician Pedro Espi-Sanchis, is proving the naysayers wrong, notes a Cape Argus report. With its roots embedded in an ancient African tradition of music-making, the orchestra is based on a concept of ’one person, one note’, with each member responsible for playing a single note.
The Moses Mabhida Stadium is a massive and outstanding landmark in Durban and with the 2010 World Cup only months away, the jewel of Durban is gearing to host a breathtaking spectacular for millions of people from around the World, notes an allAfrica.com report. For Florina Maphalala, the Moses Mabhida Stadium is like Durban’s table mountain, a marvel that will attract people from all walks of life for many years to come and when she speaks about the stadium, her eyes light up and her passion for the Durban landmark shines through. Maphalala, who has been dubbed Mama 2010, is responsible for managing and running the visitors centre at the stadium. She is one of the busiest people in Durban these days and with the interest in the 2010 World Cup gaining momentum, her workload is bound to increase.
Polokwane prepares for big soccer stars – 17/02/2010
As Polokwane prepares for the 2010 World Cup, the newly completed Peter Mokaba Stadium sits right in the heart of the city as its pride and joy. And it is at the new stadium that locals will bask in the excitement of the global extravaganza as matches from four groups will be played out there, notes a FIFA.com report. With the exception of periodic visits from the ’Bafana Bafana’ players, the last big football star to visit Polokwane was the then largely unknown Didier Drogba back in 2001 when South Africa played Côte d’Ivoire in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium.
Kevin McCallum, The Star: As Pravin Gordhan gaveth with one hand and tooketh away with the other, the news that government is getting a little silly and greedy when it comes to making money from the World Cup was almost enough to make one say the eff word in Parliament. If legislation drafted by the Department of Trade and Industry goes through anyone wanting to sell booze while showing a match on television will have to buy a special licence of R50 000. The ’2010 Soccer World Cup Liquor Policy’ includes selling grog at ’cinemas, bars, restaurants, stadiums, open spaces, offices, construction sites, oil rigs, water-borne vessels, buses, trains, armed services establishments, educational establishments and hospitals’.
Can SA handle infrastructural demands? - 15/02/2010
The ultimate question that will be asked by a few worried faces among the 48 3000 visitors to the 2010 World Cup, as well as by the many members of the international media contingent, is: will South Africa handle the infrastructural demands of a tournament of this magnitude, or will it be exposed as a substandard host? According to report on the Iafrica.com site, a few statistics have pointed to the fact that perhaps South Africans and the world, are arguably a tad over-pessimistic about the Rainbow Nation’s ability to handle the pressure.
At 37 years of age, Jerome Damon is one of the top match officials on the African continent, and the only South African to make FIFA’s referee panel for the 2010 World Cup. The Mail & Guardian caught up with the Cape Town schoolteacher to find out what makes him tick, and to settle once and for all where his allegiances lie.
Why Germany’s sour krauts are quivering - 06/02/2010
Ben Trovato, Sunday Times: From the Reeperbahn to Ratzeburg, from Borgholzhausen to the Beerfest, sour krauts of all shapes and sizes are quivering in their Doc Martens. From the moment they touch down at OR Tambo International Airport, they fear it will be running gun battles all the way to their hotels and hand-to-hand combat to the stadiums.
When Germany played Poland in 1939, everyone thought it was just another friendly, but it turned out to be a major international fixture that dragged on into injury time for an extra six years. While relatively many Germans have managed to make the distinction between football and the violent annexation of foreign territories, we cannot assume that these are the ones we will be getting.
FIFA will have its work cut out in the next few months transforming Polokwane from the one-horse town it is now to a place resembling a 2010 World Cup city, notes a Business Day report. The Peter Mokaba Stadium looks good. But as things stand, the chances of seeing pigs fly are greater than finding a good sports bar or any sort of decent entertainment in the town. Fortunately, this is expected to change drastically by June, as fan fairs with big screens are constructed in host cities, where passionate spectators can party all day and experience the atmosphere associated with an international sporting event. But for now, Polokwane remains a lost city.
2010 accommodation under the spotlight - 03/02/2010
Accommodation around 2010 has been a bit of an enigma really. Is there enough? Is there too much? Is it worth making the family home available in the hope of earning a quick buck? Is there a quick buck to be made? The Herald reports that the past couple of weeks have seen media reports and adverts enough to bamboozle any straight-thinking South African. Back in 2003 when South Africa hosted the International Cricket Council World Cup it was the same. There was all this hype. People registered their homes and spent thousands of rands preparing for the cricket fans. I was among them and re-furnished two Central flats. Nelson Mandela Bay residents who have registered their homes for accommodation with various estate agents have complained that they are yet to receive a booking.
A reputation for violence and sky-high prices mean football fans are not flocking to the 2010 World Cup, notes a report in The Guardian. According to the wonderful American humorist Dave Barry, who has long marvelled at Miami’s ability to attract visitors despite notorious gun and crime statistics, the city’s official tourism slogan is: Maybe You Won’t Get Shot. There is no truth in the rumour that South Africa is considering a similar sales pitch for the 2010 World Cup, yet listening to Jérôme Valcke, the secretary general of FIFA, pleading for more favourable media coverage in advance of the tournament and blaming low ticket sales on unfounded security concerns, it was tempting to wonder what sort of people his organisation imagined would flock to a distant country with a reputation for violence.
Prominent figures in the South African arts field are questioning what has happened to R150-million promised by the Arts and Culture Department for projects related to the 2010 World Cup. At a public meeting at Johannesburg’s Bassline club early last year, attended by former arts minister Pallo Jordan, the ministry pledged the sum of R150-million for tournament-related projects. However, arts and culture practitioners said that with just four months to go before the World Cup kicks off, none of the funding had materialised.
The 2010 World Cup and the ’Obama effect’ of a US president of African heritage has sparked a surge in interest in much of Africa as a tourist destination, industry experts say. Speaking as Madrid hosted the annual FITUR tourism trade fair, one of the world’s largest, they said the continent is slowly starting to fulfill its vast potential for tourism. In its annual World Tourism Barometer released last week, the Madrid-based UN World Tourism Organisation said Africa had ’bucked the global trend’ in 2009, with international tourist arrivals to the continent jumping 5%. According to a report on the iafrica.com site, the World Cup football tournament now looks set to help push the number of travellers to Africa even higher.
South Africans banking on a flood of international soccer fans to boost the local hospitality industry during this year’s World Cup may be in for a rude awakening. Travel packages of up to R100 000 for European and South American fans have triggered warnings that Africa’s first World Cup may not draw the numbers initially expected. With 3-million tickets available for the tournament - which will see 32 nations compete for the ultimate soccer glory - local organisers are getting increasingly jittery amid international criticism of the cost of travelling to the tournament. The Sunday Times reports that ticket sales abroad have been fairly poor so far. All-inclusive packages on offer by foreign travel agencies accredited by Fifa’s ticketing agency, Match, are proving to be very costly.
In less than six months, South Africa is due to embark on what figures to be the most rewarding and spectacular journey in its short yet celebrated history as a democracy when the country will host the 2010 World Cup. And South Africans can hardly wait. Neil Tovey, the man who led South Africa to their first ever continental triumph at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in 1996 described this year as ’probably the second most important’ period the country’s era. The first one, obviously, being when South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994, thus ending the country’s apartheid regime. FIFA.com reports that former boxing World Champion and a sport icon in South Africa, Vuyani Bungu is optimistic about the event and believes it will go a long way in bridging the differences that exist with the country. ’The World Cup is by far the biggest sporting event and we are privileged to be hosting it. I think this is going to be a very good year for us and for our country.’
As the world of soccer is focuses on the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, what else is going on? The Zimbabwe Guardian reports that Sibusiso Mamba’s theatrical play, ’Train to 2010’ is a drama about a waiter searching for a lost girl on an underground train travelling beneath the city of Johannesburg speeding towards the World Cup in 2010? At the age of 9, as a dedicated member of the ’Soul Friends Band’, the young Swazi boy, Sibusiso Mamba, was able to imitate his idol Michael Jackson but Sibu’s father was adamant that the schoolboy focus on his studies and graduate to college. Turning his back on music was a difficult task for Sibu who was singing baritone, soul, jazz, motown, R’n B; performing alongside of him in the ’Soul Friends Band’ at that time was an equally young and talented boy named Macford Sibandze; today he is the Minister of Tourism in Swaziland!
The swift replacement of Raymond Hack with fellow lawyer Leslie Sedibe as the SA Football Association’s (Safa) chief executive could have two different implications. On the one hand, it could set the tone for a bruising battle for the control of South Africa’s number one sport once the World Cup is over. It should be remembered that Fifa has asked local football’s warring factions to keep a truce until July 11. But it is far more likely that Hack’s premature departure signals a loosening of Irvin Khoza’s iron grip on the game. Hack was a close ally of local organising committee chairperson Khoza in the Safa presidential elections in September last year, in which the relatively unknown Kirsten Nematandani was ushered in as president of the organisation. Since then Hack’s days have been numbered.
The event is likely to attract displays of dangerous agendas, writes political analyst Raenette Taljaard: The failed attempt by 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a flight to Detroit on Christmas day has yet again shone a spotlight on the challenges posed by terrorism. Farouk Abdulmutallab’s case has focused new attention on the growing role of Yemen as a recruitment base for terrorists with the UK announcing that it would host a terror summit on Yemen in parallel with a conference on Afghanistan set to take place in London at the end of January. These events are all significant developments for South Africa to take cognisance of as they have a bearing on our own efforts to host not only a successful but also a secure 2010 World Cup. The entire capacity of the South African state will be on show, including our law enforcement and national security institutions, some of which have been battered by party politics and partisan interests at a time when they confront their biggest test yet in democratic South Africa’s recent history.
Jonathan Clayton, The Times: The 2010 FIFA World Cup, the biggest event ever held on the African continent, will be a huge success. The stadiums in nine host cities are now all completed and look fantastic. The naysayers and Afro-pessimists have suddenly gone quiet as it seems the event could be what the organisers want: a truly memorable occasion which alters forever negative perceptions of Africa as a place to live and work. Nelson Mandela is set to finally depart the stage. At 91, he is extremely frail and reportedly now fading
With the World Cup nearing, 2010 will be South Africa’s year. The self-proclaimed Rainbow Nation will receive a rainbow crowd of visitors, the largest and most diverse group of tourists in its history. The spotlight on the country’s progress since apartheid will be more intense than ever. The World Cup host, President Jacob Zuma, will bring Britain his message of success with a state visit in March. Eight months in office, he has surprised his critics. He is more accessible to ordinary South Africans than his aloof predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. He is more willing to listen to colleagues than Nelson Mandela who, according to former ministers, could be brutal in Cabinet, shutting speakers up by saying he had already taken his decision.
