The World Cup leaves indelible mark on Africa

IT is not whether it will happen; the world knows it is well in progress. Afro-pessimist media which doubted an event of this magnitude happening on African soil should think again. They had reportedly persuaded FIFA to put in place one or two plan Bs just in case S. Africa failed to deliver!Their argument to deny the Rainbow nation and Africa hosting the tournament included crime, AIDS and a prediction or a hoax that the country was scheduled to be hit, three months before the beginning of the event, by a terrible earthquake. Not only has S. Africa proved it is equal to the task; the country has reaped lots of tangible benefits. According to the Sowetan, a study released by Grant and Thornton shows that more than 373,000 visitors are expected to have visited the country by the end of the tournament. Marketing the country through a massive global television audience could attract 2 million extra tourists in the near future. It is also hoped, according to the study, that the games will add 0.5 percent to the country’s GDP.President Jacob Zuma said the world cup would facilitate development and that its benefits would be felt “long after the final whistle” Zuma pointed out that the stadiums would be used for other games such as rugby and cricket. He hailed the tournament as a unifying factor which brought the people together - black and white – “for the first time ever in 16 years of freedom and democracy to celebrate in the stadiums and fan parks” The ubiquitous “irritating” vuvuzelas have been making an impact even before reaching the pitches; one departmental store in London reportedly sold 40,000 vuvuzelas in two weeks! The whole of Africa is basking in S. Africa’s glory, the country’s poor performance notwithstanding. Africa will not lift the trophy but it has hosted the world cup successfully and demonstrated that it is worthy more than poverty, crime and social strife. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has promised to give any Liberian who correctly predicts the two final teams and the winner of the 2010 FIFA world cup in S. Africa. Her press secretary told VOA that the president wanted to encourage Liberians to share in the joy of Africa’s first world cup, especially the positive images of Africa that the tournament has been projecting. Charity organizations teamed up to take the world cup matches on large sceens to the continent’s most remote villages. Prememas Okomo, a local AIDS coordinator in Western Kenya, said they wanted to use the world cup to create awareness and to bring down the stigma. According to Zeina Awad of Aljazeera, “The goal is to screen every game of the tournament in eight countries across sub-saharan Africa” Other activities include games and performances aimed at teaching people about the virus. All this is rubbish to Somalia’s hard-line Islamic militants who were quoted as saying that “there is no benefit from watching mad men jumping up and down” In Kigali, some ladies have been grumbling in hushed tones about some husbands -including those known to engage in extra-marital activities – who come home unusually late on the pretext that the world cup is going on in Africa. Nor are bar owners a very happy lot, the big event should have afforded them large sales of BRALIRWA drinks under normal circumstances given the number of faithful foot ball lovers who should have been attracted to watch the games in the bars As a matter of obligation, Rwanda Television has made available the entire world cup to the homes of the owners of TV sets. This has made life a lot more enjoyable to the ordinary people but has drastically reduced the number of people going to bars and this has not gone down well with bar owners. World cup benefits to S. Africa are obvious but cynics and the anti-privatisation forum in the country are not impressed. They contend that challenges of housing, energy, quality education and water will remain after the event. That the world cup will widen the gap between the rich and the poor and that the stadiums will be privatized to benefit the small domestic elite. Of course those who have will get more and those who had nothing before the Africa’s event should be content with the little that will trickle down to them because that is the way it is. kambaveda@yahoo.com Vedaste Kambanda works at Rwanda Television