Since FIFA allowed the new South African Football Association back into FIFA in 1992, following the collapse of apartheid, the day was bound to come when South Africa would host one of the greatest sporting events: the World Cup.
For a country blighted by the AIDS pandemic, high levels of crime and unemployment rates of 25%, the World Cup could offer a new opportunity to resolve its economic and social problems. Indeed, the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, has predicted that the event will be viewed as the moment that Africa “turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict”.
However, many are more sceptical: the economic success of a World Cup for the hosting nation is often only felt many years after the event, and the level of this economic success is often minimal when compared to the massive cost of hosting the Cup. These facts have led many to call the event an economic gamble, especially for poor nations who bank their future on its success. South Africa alone has invested around £3.5 billion in the various developments necessary for the Cup, such as building the stadiums, roads and transport links in preparation.
Politically, the World Cup will shine a bright light on South Africa’s post-apartheid system. Sporting events have often been the catalyst for highlighting continuing problems for the South African society; the 1995 Rugby World Cup, in particular, brought to light the racism which was still apparent in the sport. But the South African Government are hoping that this sporting occasion will be a show of solidarity rather than a revelation of any racial issues which might remain in South African society.
Fears are rife, however, that extremists from both sides of the apartheid debate might use the World Cup in South Africa as a platform to distract the world’s attention from what should be a monumental celebration of African diversity. Last month, the white supremacist leader, Eugene Terreblanche, was murdered and a noticeable sense of panic emerged from government officials in light of the imminent World Cup. A similar incident now would most certainly mark the event with the negative stigma reminiscent of apartheid South Africa – something that the government would definitely be keen to avoid.
The economic and political success of the South African World Cup is not certain. Indeed, in the current economic climate, the success of the event seems even more in doubt. Africa’s problems are deep rooted; the fear is that the billions of pounds of investment will leave Africa with little to show after the intense 30-day window of opportunity has passed.
For ordinary South Africans, the high levels of crime, the 25% unemployment and the AIDS pandemic will be around long after the World Cup has left, as will the social problems which have lingered since the 1990s. Even if the Cup can’t turn “the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict”, it will at least unite the South African people around the one thing that has been with them all the way along their painful journey through apartheid and poverty: their love of sport.