South Africa's World Cup folly

A few nights ago I engaged in a heated internet discussion about the merits or otherwise of staging the World Cup in South Africa.
I was called unpatriotic because I feel this is one of the most stupid things this country has ever done. A well-known motivational speaker asked why I simply didn't pack up and leave but then he would -- he makes a living peddling bullshit and getting people to hug each other and pretend all is well in the land of candy and rose-coloured glasses.
Make no mistake, the scenes of South Africans of all races and persuasions hugging in an orgy of glee are real -- for the moment. But what happens after FIFA, the current de-facto government of this country, packs up their R25 billion tax-free windfall and leaves us with the bill and the hangover?

Emporer's clothes

This is a classic case of "the Emporer's clothes" only, this time, it is "only true patriots who can see the finery." Anyone who does not buy into FIFA and government spin-doctoring is automatically labeled as negative and unpatriotic.
But let's consider the facts.
Visitors come to our country and find the picture painted by the media and we "white ous" is completely false. The reactionaries are lying!
There is almost no crime. The airport is quick and efficient, roads into the city are beautiful, with little traffic and the countryside they see from their tour-bus windows is as clean and litter-free as a Swiss chocolate box picture.
Well yeah! That's because hundreds of police officials suddenly miraculously appeared from God knows where they've been hiding since 1994. Those foreigners who became crime-victims saw the suspects arrested, tried in special courts and packed off to jail within a couple of days. (Begs the question of allowing enough time to mount a proper defence -- but let's forget about that.) It's quick, efficient justice, run with Swiss-German precision. It's good pr..."...and you sceptics and afro-pessimists believed all that stuff written about the South African Police and legal system. Shame on you!"
But the truth is, it's all bullshit, a carefully choreographed facade there while the eyes of the world are upon us. The reality, for we ordinary ous of all colours and persuasions, is a lot different.
Farmers, now numbering in the thousands, continue to be murdered. My mate, who was shot in a hijacking attempt seven years ago, still waits for the police to interview him. Next month, after seven and a half years, I finally get my day in court for a Road Accident Fund claim that the government-run body has delayed in every way possible, no doubt hoping I will die in the interim. I am not holding my breath that the matter will be settled.
According to some newspaper reports fewer than 10% of murderers are caught and sentenced. The list goes on and on. The truth is, justice experienced by ordinary South Africans is a whole lot different to that being displayed to the world.

Not our normal experience

There is no doubt the airport experience for football fans is wonderful. That's because access roads in the complex are closed to South African citizens so visitors can be whisked through with a minimum of fuss.
The main routes have been cleaned up and are pristine but again that's not our normal experience.
It's all a carefully-created facade. The Adidas infomercial flighted on the afternoon of the opening World Cup ceremony is a good example. In the programme, a giant truck drives around the country, getting people to sign a giant Bafana Bafana journey. It was wonderful viewing but not the country we see. There were no plastic bags hooked on barbed-wire fences, no empty beer-cans lying around, no mangy dogs or shitty squatter camps and no dirty kids with snotty noses and grimy, outstretched begging hands. There was no raw sewage floating in the streams, just shiny, happy, freshly-washed people in beautiful, pristine surroundings, all happily part of the Rainbow Nation.
But beyond all of this lies the irrefutable fact that this country simply cannot afford to run this event. The roads that so impress the fans now, will be tolled by next year and it will reportedly cost motorists 50c per kilometre to use them.
The stadiums, according to a number of news reports, will each cost in excess of R10 million per month to maintain, a cost that undoubtedly will be passed on to the rate-payers of the municipal areas in which they are located. Whether these, admittedly world-class, facilities will become white elephants or not remains to be seen.

No money for power-stations

But what really sticks in my craw is the fact that the stadiums cost well in excess of R12 billion and the newly-commissioned Gautrain will end up costing over R20 billion yet government tells us there is no money to build power-stations. Few will forget the rolling-blackouts and the writing is on the wall that in the near future we can expect more of the same. So consumers will have to pay annual electricity price increases of around 40% p.a. for many years to come.
Then there is the small matter of closing the country's schools for five weeks, to allow a bunch of overpaid primadonnas to kick a modern pig's bladder around a field. Even in normal years South Africa's matric results can at best be described as "dismal".
Somehow the priorities have gotten screwed up and the final cost of "putting South Africa on the world map" will bankrupt us.
But what the hell. Don't worry about the future. Eat drink and be merry. Enjoy the fantasy love-fest and show your support and patriotism by buying official supporter-clothing. Be patriotic and forget that by doing so, you make FIFA, the Local Organising Committee, elite government cronies and global companies like Adidas even richer.
Heck let's replace the Blue Crane with the ostrich as our national bird. After all we are currently a nation with its head in the sand and backside in the air, ready to be bum-raped.

Read Mandy de Waal's brilliant Daily Maverick article on Sepp Blatter's Twitter debut and what many people think of him.