World Cup 2010; The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

FOR the next three weeks the mantra on everyone’s lips is the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and quite rightly so!

It is the biggest sporting show on earth and billions will remain glued to TV screens as the ball, called ‘Jabulani’ (‘rejoice’ in Zulu language), will be chased around the pitch by hundreds of players and cheered on by billions worldwide.

The design of ‘Jabulani’ is significant in that eleven colours are used on it, which marks the 11th time that an Adidas World Cup ball is the official match ball for all games, but it also marks the 11 official South African languages, 11 South African communities and 11 players on the field.
I must confess that, for once, I envy my former colonisers, South Africa.
They coughed up no less than N$50 billion to get their infrastructure upgraded for the World Cup. That is almost double Namibia’s annual budget.
However, the benefits of hosting the tournament will probably overshadow that N$50-billion expenditure for South Africa.
The World Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Africans. It must be because we can’t really afford to spend so much on a four-week football tournament! There are no tangible economic benefits from it and thus I expect the debate about the tournament’s economic value to continue long after the final whistle has blown on July 11.
Yet, the World Cup will definitely shape the way in which South Africa is viewed by the rest of the world.
The positive media coverage the country has received over the past weeks is just awesome.
Friend and foe seemed to have buried the hatchet, with major rugby matches being played in Soweto and many rugby-obsessed Afrikaners seen blowing the vuvuzela and embracing football like never before. That’s the stuff dreams are made of.
On Friday last week, as the hour drew closer for the opening match, I couldn’t believe the euphoria around Windhoek. Most people went completely soccer-crazy and the city witnessed proud seas of SA’s multi-coloured flag, along with a few others like those of Brazil, Germany, France and even Mexico.
The Bafana shirt became the most popular item on the shopping list of Namibians and Windhoek was a real explosion of African pride with almost every second car on the road with a flag attached to an aerial, window or rear-view mirror.
Soccer shirts were selling so fast that even traders in Chinatown who normally would beg you to buy from them, decided to cash in by upping their prices.
The cherry on the cake was when I decided to stroll down Independence Avenue to treasure the moment.
One guy stood out. He was walking towards the City of Windhoek offices and had on a lime-green goalkeeper jersey, black goalkeeper shorts, lime-green socks and white sport shoes – basically ready to play the game.
Like me, many others (some shaking their heads!) paused to look at him but he just pretended not to notice the staring.
Surely our neighbours defied so many negative expectations and prophets of doom. In fact that was already clear by watching Thursday night’s successful live concert graced by the likes of Alicia Keys, Shakira, Angelique Kidjo, K’Naan and Black Eyed Peas.
I agree with many who say that the World Cup is not the solution for the many problems that beset South Africa. It will not eradicate the social ills such as the lack of employment, housing, access to education.
But former SA President Nelson Mandela (Madiba) and others like Danny Jordaan who campaigned to bring the Cup to SA knew very well that it was never about football or development.
They used the game loved by billions as an instrument of bringing about true reconciliation and patriotism.
When he officially opened the tournament, together with SA President Jacob Zuma, Fifa president Sepp Blatter said “football is not only a game, football is connecting people”.
That also explains why many people who otherwise would normally not look East, were cheering North Korea on against Brazil on Tuesday evening!
Just a pity that, despite Namibia being a stone’s throw away, we have nothing to show our children and great-grandchildren one day in terms of World Cup.
K’Naan sang: “When I get older, I will be stronger, just like a waving flag.”
How I wish we could have hosted a pre-tournament camp for the likes of Germany, Spain, Brazil or England so that I and others could show pictures and other memorabilia to our grandchildren when we get older.
Hopefully, we have learnt a lesson about the negative impact sluggishness has had on our World Cup spin-offs.

* This column first appeared in The Namibian