South Africa

With 2010 and the World Cup, and thus South Africa’s global close-up, fast approaching, the country’s tourist industry will become increasingly prominent. Moeketsi Mosola, chief executive of South African Tourism, is worried that crime is South Africa’s Achilles’ heel and that all of the work going into preparations for 2010 will be for naught if crime is not brought under control. Stories such as those coming out of Alexandra, in which foreigners have been brutally attacked, will serve only to underscore Mosola’s concerns. The fact that the foreign victims are anything but tourists probably will be lost to those living abroad who are considering a trip to South Africa but worry about crime. But more important, the events in Alex reveal the tensions within South African society, where economic insecurity and xenophobia merge with catastrophic results. It is all well and good to worry about crime because of the effect it may have on tourists, but it is even more important to address crime because of the ongoing effects it has on South Africans, and to address the underlying causes that lead to crime to begin with.

The head coach of Bafana Bafana, Alberto Parreira, has resigned to spend time with his sick wife. When officials from the South African Football Association (SAFA) announce Parreira’s successor on May 6, many expect that they will settle on another Brazilian, Joel Santana. Naturally SAFA and the country’s rabid fan base hope to ease the transition, as the next few years will be crucial in South African soccer circles, as th4e next coach will presumably lead Bafana Bafana into the 2010 World Cup, which the country is, of course, hosting. Recent years have been unkind to South African football, which has declined significantly since Bafana Bafana’s 1996-1997 heyday. Perhaps Santana will be the man to lead the team and thus the country to glory. The Springboks and Proteas seem to have garnered the bulk of media attention in recent years, both for their successes and their controversies, and yet in the end, the masses of South Africans love football and Bafana Bafana foremost.

Periodically you’ll hear the whispering: FIFA is displeased with South Africa’s progress in preparing to host the World Cup in 2010. Every sign of “political instability” (which is a patronizing way of referring to political division, which every vibrant democracy has) or possible internal conflicts in the organizing effort sends the FIFA overlords and Afro-pessimists scurrying to consider other options. Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of South Africa’s World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC), rejects reports that the body is beset by infighting. President Thabo Mbeki and Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile insist that the World Cup will go on and along with many optimists that they will be a rousing success, with some going so far as to argue that the World Cup will do for Cape Town what the Olympics did for Bercelona, w3hich hosted the Summer Games in 1992.

To be sure there are legitimate concerns about the World Cup. The recent power outages must be disquieting for even the most cockeyed of optimists and while crime is an easy bugaboo for the country’s detractors, it is also a very real issue. But as with so much in South African life, internal dissent seems to break down largely along racial lines, with whites being the most pessimistic about the country’s chances to pull off what will be an impressive (and at times seemingly Herculean) task. South Africa will accomplish a successful and historic World Cup.

Will there be glitches both in the lead-up and over the course of the event itself? Surely. Just as there are glitches in the planning and lead-up to every Olympics, World Cup, and other vital global sporting event. Surely it is more daunting to host an Olympics in London in 2012 than a World Cup in South Africa in 2010, and there will be similar infighting, political and infrastructural impediments and unanticipated issues that will emerge, and yet no one will question the innate ability of Londoners or of the English to handle such an immense undertaking. There were lots of questions about Athens’ ability and preparedness to handle the 2004 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has found itself embroiled in scandal, particularly when it came to the awarding of the Salt Lake City bid. None of these aroused the sorts of reductionist concerns that haunt the 2010 preparations. Hopefully all of the doubters will be effusive in their praise — and their apologies — after what may prove to be the most lively of all World Cups.

There can be little doubt that the past year has been the most trying in Thabo Mbeki’s oft-tumultuous presidency. Tonight he gave his State of the Union address before parliament. He certainly had plenty of fodder from which to work: The electricity crisis, crime, poverty, the daunting prospect of hosting the 2010 World Cup, and simply a general sense of malaise.

Mbeki provided a positive spin, called for the nation to pull together to confront the issues facing South Africa, and praised his countrymen for their resilience in the face of recent difficulties, especially the power delivery nightmare.

The response to Mbeki’s optimism has been skepticism in many, but far from all, circles. Helen Zille,  leader of the Democratic Alliance, whose job it is to be critical, took her job seriously, criticizing the president for “business as usual.” The editors of The Mail & Guardian approached Mbeki’s address fatalistically as did other observers. One imagines that those critics were likely not placated by Mbeki’s address and that Mbeki’s supporters found much with which to be pleased. In other words, status quo ante is likely to prevail.

In a game in which both Bafana Bafana and their Senegalese opponents needed a win (plus some help) to advance in the African Nations Cup, the two teams fought to a 1-1 draw, thus knocking one another out of the tournament. South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has his work cut out for him if his charges are to continue the history of host team successes in the World Cup and if Bafana Bafana is to be the African team that quadrennially strikes fear into the hearts of the more traditional powers. There is time yet — two-plus years is an eternity in international sport. But as of right now, South Africa’s most popular national team does not measure up.

The blackouts plaguing South Africa seem to be getting worse. The finger pointing is getting more intense as most everyone tries to apportion or shed blame. And now Business Report wonders if the recent woes in power delivery don’t augur poorly for South Africans when the country hosts the 2010 World Cup.

There seem to be several questions implicit in the Business Report article. One is about simple delivery of services. But forget about 2010. South Africans need power now. When I lived in Grahamstown, power outages were not unheard of, but they happened and could be endlessly frustrating. The idea of consistent, long, unpredictable outages roiling across the country should be almost unfathomable, and yet that is where South Africa is right now. Forget about 2010. South Africans need to know that they will have access to electricity in February 2008.

Another obvious concern is simply with South Africa’s ability to carry out the World Cup. I believe that the country will find a way to do so and to do so well. But the third question becomes: At what cost to South Africans? 20120 needs to be a way to showcase South Africa while at the same time improving infrastructure, contributing to the economy, and providing avenues for growth. If the government and planners have to rob peter to pay Paul, 2010 will no longer look quite so good.

South Africa is a sport-mad society and 2007 was a year to fuel the country’s passions. The Proteas’ participation in the cricket World Cup and the run-up to South Africa’s hosting the 2010 World Cup would ordinarily have been the stories of the year, but by winning the Rugby World Cup the Springboks became the biggest story in South Africa’ s sporting scene in 2007 and one of the biggest stories period.

 IOL has a number of yearly wrap-up stories on rugby, including here, here, here, here, here, and here.

And for some of the year’s most memorable international sports quotations, see here.

Finally, as with just about every other facet of South African life, sports and politics often merge. The Mail & Guardian ran an interview this week with Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile about the new Sports Amendment Act, which allows the government to intervene in matters related to sports, and about transformation in sport in general.
 

If’s a busy news cycle right now in Southern Africa. here are a number of stories that caught my eye in today’s chock-full Mail & Guardian and elsewhere:

As the thirteith anniversary of the murder of Steven Bantu Biko at the hands of the security forces approaches different South Africans remember Biko’s life and death differently.

the Zimbabwe crisis continues unabated. The economic calamity has opened the door for corruption. Some maintain hopes  that South African-brokered talked will lead to a resolution of the political elements of the country’s conflicts, but it seems that  this may not be the time for whistling past the graveyard.

Meanwhile, transformation isn’t always easy. Members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) are up in arms over the Tshwane metropolitan council’s reported ban on white businesses. If the allegations are accurate, the DA would certainly seem to have a case that they will bring before the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile in a  pronouncement that is likely to be equally tendentious, the Black Management Forum  (BMF)  has argued that white women should be removed from the list of groups previously disadvantaged ”in terms of . . . employment equity legislation.” It is a bit hard for white women who benefitted in every imaginable way from apartheid suddenly stepping forward to claim their lots alongside the black South Africans on whose backs the Apartheid system built white privilege.

Finally, the M&G’s longtime rugby columnist Andrew Capostagno has a nifty piece on how this Rugby World Cup represents a “big chance” for the Springboks. He concludes his historically astute article by arguing that if the Boks achieve their considerable promise and “Win this one” South Africans “can forget, for a long, glorious moment, about politics.”

Well, that probably seals the pending victory. Nelson Mandela stopped in France to wish the Springboks well on the eve of the opening of the Rugby World Cup. Mandela’s embrace of the Springboks, historically the embodiment of Afrikaner Nationalism, proved one of the feel-good stories of transformation and reconciliation in 1995.

Now the great man has spread his pixie dust over the 2007 version of Amobokoboko. How can they lose? 

The Rugby World Cup kicks off in France later this week, with the hosts taking on Argentina in the tournament’s inaugural game on Friday. The Springboks enter the tournament on something of a roll and are expected to contend for the title along with New Zealand, Australia, and local favorites, France. South Africa’s Pool A, aside from containing a relatively depleted defending champion in England, shouldn’t make the 1995 champs sweat too much. South Africa’s first game will take place on Sunday in Paris against the rugby minnows from Samoa. Here is the fixtures table, and here is the home page for the 2007 World Cup.

Namibia will also represent Africa in the tournament, though they will be bottom feeders and will be lucky to avoid getting shut out in a tough pool in which they only have a prayer of beating Georgia and no hope at all of defeating, or even keeping the score respectable, against France, Argentina, or Ireland.