On May 14th 2004 it came clear that South-Africa was to be the 2010 host of the notorious world cup soccer event.
This came to as a staggering surprise, not underestimating the South-African government’s persuasion of the FIFA president, but actually thinking there might be a slight chance of the board considering South-Africa as a valid country.
Although the nation promised to “clean up its act” for 2010 there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. The fact is that South-Africa does not lack manpower, knowledge or taxpayers money to complete the physical aspects of the requirements. No, the problem lies much deeper, mainly on a social level.
The previous soccer world cup hosted by Germany in 2006 displayed a perfect picture of how a social institution must look like before even considering hosting such a major event. The number one concern of the visitors to Germany in that time was safety. South-Africa thus promises this too, but to a certain extent that there will be no guarantee. When looking at this aspect out of a statistical point of view, one can’t help to look at the negative aspects. Among Germany’s 82 million citizens there have been 794 murders in 2005. In 2007 South-Africa’s murder rate reached a staggering 18,487! And that is out of a population of 48 million, almost half of Germany’s population! Astonishing, that means that every 30 seconds someone is murdered in the country hosting the world’s largest sporting event!
To compete with the extreme social situation or lack thereof is the country’s political mayhem. The ANC leader (the governing political party at the moment) Jacob Zuma, is currently on trial, this after he has been accused of corruption, fraud and rape.Furthermore the soaring food prices, the poverty issue, the electricity problem the HIV/AIDS epidemic and not to mention the Zimbabwean question all contributes to the chaotic state of the rainbow nation. Is this hell?
Therefore I urge people planning to visit South-Africa to come and see the world cup to do so with caution. Although the country desperately needs the foreign currency it is inevitable that we repair the damage we have created before attempting to host such a sporting event.
Arjen Rijpstra(Yeti)
Editor’s Note: This is the first article by Arjen Rijpstra. Hopefull he will contribute every week henceforth. If anyone else would like to add and article to this blog please post a comment under the blog post and I’ll take a look.