Why Not The African World Cup?
I have on more than one occasion heard some disgruntled grumbling about this being called the ‘African World Cup’. The moan is that the South African taxpayer footed the bill for all this Fifa madness and if the entire continent wants to take credit then they should cough up some of the moolah.
Is it because we were all a bit sketchy about Bafana’s chances of getting anywhere? Before the magnificent victory of the ‘Boys Boys’ over the grumpy French our president, Jacob Zuma, released a statement along the lines of “We should be proud, anyway”, implying that they didn’t have a hope of getting through to the Death Round play-offs to the quarter-finals. If this is the case then an African World Cup might mean less shame.
I, for one, believed they could do it and, by gosh, they almost did. If it wasn’t for the red card for our goalie and accompanying penalty for the offside Uruguay striker along with the obviously disheartening mass exodus of Bafana ‘supporters’ in that second group match, I think that second and third goal might not have gone through and our guys could have done it. Who knows?
Or is it because the rest of the world, along with thinking we have lions as pets and ride elephants to work, like to lump all the natives together? The continent has 61 territories and over 2000 languages are spoken – a melting pot if ever there was one. Most of us don’t even realise how unique and diverse our everyday experience is.
South Africa has come a long way since 1994 but it is still in many respects a divided nation. We all pretty much vote along colour lines, there is a depressing gap between the haves and the have-nots, and the tragic xenophobic violence of 2008 revealed that the animosity is not just a black/white thing. We need events like this to bring us together no matter how short-lived and fickle that unity may be.
The fact is that South Africa isn’t only a home to South Africans. We have many legal and illegal residents from all over the continent not only stealing our women and jobs but also contributing greatly to our economy. Surely we can agree that this moment is one to be shared and not clutched selfishly to our South African chests. Let’s stop the whinging, magnanimously call this the African World Cup, and kick-off the process of uniting not only South Africa, but the entire African continent as well!
Is it because we were all a bit sketchy about Bafana’s chances of getting anywhere? Before the magnificent victory of the ‘Boys Boys’ over the grumpy French our president, Jacob Zuma, released a statement along the lines of “We should be proud, anyway”, implying that they didn’t have a hope of getting through to the Death Round play-offs to the quarter-finals. If this is the case then an African World Cup might mean less shame.
I, for one, believed they could do it and, by gosh, they almost did. If it wasn’t for the red card for our goalie and accompanying penalty for the offside Uruguay striker along with the obviously disheartening mass exodus of Bafana ‘supporters’ in that second group match, I think that second and third goal might not have gone through and our guys could have done it. Who knows?
Or is it because the rest of the world, along with thinking we have lions as pets and ride elephants to work, like to lump all the natives together? The continent has 61 territories and over 2000 languages are spoken – a melting pot if ever there was one. Most of us don’t even realise how unique and diverse our everyday experience is.
South Africa has come a long way since 1994 but it is still in many respects a divided nation. We all pretty much vote along colour lines, there is a depressing gap between the haves and the have-nots, and the tragic xenophobic violence of 2008 revealed that the animosity is not just a black/white thing. We need events like this to bring us together no matter how short-lived and fickle that unity may be.
The fact is that South Africa isn’t only a home to South Africans. We have many legal and illegal residents from all over the continent not only stealing our women and jobs but also contributing greatly to our economy. Surely we can agree that this moment is one to be shared and not clutched selfishly to our South African chests. Let’s stop the whinging, magnanimously call this the African World Cup, and kick-off the process of uniting not only South Africa, but the entire African continent as well!
