South Africa the defiant
Post categories: World Cup 2010
| 10:18 UK time, Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Here's a paragraph from this morning's Sowetan. Since 1994, South Africa 'has faced almost endless accusations that it is no place to host the world's biggest sporting event because it is either too crime-ridden or lacking the infrastructure'. It's those words 'almost endless' that hint at deep sense of injustice that I'm sensing since I've been here.
The implication is that those questions about crime and readiness went beyond what was reasonable.
Driving from the airport, I heard a guest on 's Radio 2000 say, 'this will prove the Afro-pessimists wrong'. I saw a well-known fan (who was dres sed like a Bafana Bafana version of ) on SABC1 television saying 'it's time for the world to show us respect'. Listening to urban station yesterday, the host said 'we've had to put up with a lot of negativity, especially from the English press'. I could give you plenty more examples.
(As I'm writing this, someone on has said this will make critics 'eat humble pie'.)
Talking to people, it seem that the we can trace this back to the point around 18 months ago when it became known that FIFA were making sure they had plan B (rumoured to be Australia). The media too were pouncing on every delay and every problem.
This clearly hurt a lot, and this week feels not just about celebrating the beginning of the tournament but also a defiant statement of what this country can do.
I've only been in Joburg and Soweto, but the development is astonishing.
Roads, stadiums, the airport - they have been transformed. Yesterday I drove down a highway that was half-finished, and it was hard to see how the shiny new bus stops were going to get used. The traffic lights around Soccer City don't work either. But the majority of work has been finished, and listening to the radio, people are saying 'how dare you doubt us?' And they clearly feel they are being doubted because they are African.
The interesting point to note is that in all my reading, the issue of whether SA can do this evaporated months ago. The offence that was taken last year hasn't though.
Now on the issue of crime it gets more interesting.
Time and time again I'm told that the foreign media is exaggerating and scare-mongering. This may be true in certain cases, but I don't follow the argument that SA is just like anywhere else. The statistics suggest rape, murder and violent crime of all types is higher than in most countries. And the way South Africans live understandably bears that out.
People here in Soweto, and in those northern suburbs live behind ever higher walls and stronger gates. You won't see too many people walking around after dark in residential areas.
Read the paper, listen to the radio, and crime comes up again and again and again.
I understand, that South Africans tire of being defined by crime, but to suggest that pressing concern about crime is the preserve of the foreign media doesn't add up to me.
But for all this, the foreign media, and any other doubters stand accused of being too negative about this amazing country. Are we guilty?
