When The Party's Over
Those in the know will tell you that the harder the party, the bigger the hangover. After a party as large as the World Cup… well, we’ll all know very soon.
Right now most of us don’t want the celebrations to end. When they do we will probably wake up with a terrible sense of loss, an empty wallet and a return to our stark reality.
It pains me to think that all the actions of goodwill and unity over the past month could have an equal and opposite reaction. The mounting threats of xenophobic violence, if acted on, could undo all the national pride of hosting the greatest sport event in the world and return our South African psyche to the shame of 2008.
The office of Fikile Mbalula, the deputy minister of police, wrote in a statement to the Mail & Guardian newspaper that “the issue of xenophobic attacks after the World Cup has no foundation, except to influence the vulnerable… to commit crime,”, it then goes on to say that he has “confidence in both the police and our people.”
These are heady days of the World Cup and maybe the ANC is in the throes of Fifa-induced drunkenness, but it would be good for them to stop the party for just a moment and remember how ill-prepared the government was two years ago when the xenophobic clashes first erupted. I certainly hope this laughing show of Dutch courage can be backed up and is not just another nonsensical belch we’re so used to from politicians drunk with importance.
Last time the mess was left to the South African public to sort out, practically ignored by those elected as custodians of our country until the eleventh hour, and Mbalula’s show of smugness and arrogance does not inspire confidence.
It would be a terrible irony if on Friday we all stand as proud Africans behind Ghana, opportunistically clutching at glory through another nation, and then, on July 12, murder and steal from those very Africans we called brother. It would show us all to be untrustworthy, two-faced frauds.
We all need to sober up now and prepare ourselves for when the party’s over.
Right now most of us don’t want the celebrations to end. When they do we will probably wake up with a terrible sense of loss, an empty wallet and a return to our stark reality.
It pains me to think that all the actions of goodwill and unity over the past month could have an equal and opposite reaction. The mounting threats of xenophobic violence, if acted on, could undo all the national pride of hosting the greatest sport event in the world and return our South African psyche to the shame of 2008.
The office of Fikile Mbalula, the deputy minister of police, wrote in a statement to the Mail & Guardian newspaper that “the issue of xenophobic attacks after the World Cup has no foundation, except to influence the vulnerable… to commit crime,”, it then goes on to say that he has “confidence in both the police and our people.”
These are heady days of the World Cup and maybe the ANC is in the throes of Fifa-induced drunkenness, but it would be good for them to stop the party for just a moment and remember how ill-prepared the government was two years ago when the xenophobic clashes first erupted. I certainly hope this laughing show of Dutch courage can be backed up and is not just another nonsensical belch we’re so used to from politicians drunk with importance.
Last time the mess was left to the South African public to sort out, practically ignored by those elected as custodians of our country until the eleventh hour, and Mbalula’s show of smugness and arrogance does not inspire confidence.
It would be a terrible irony if on Friday we all stand as proud Africans behind Ghana, opportunistically clutching at glory through another nation, and then, on July 12, murder and steal from those very Africans we called brother. It would show us all to be untrustworthy, two-faced frauds.
We all need to sober up now and prepare ourselves for when the party’s over.
