South Africa one week into the 2010 World Cup

Mere seven days after the start of the FIFA World Cup 2010, it is too soon to talk about the effects of the tournament on the South African economy. The complete information will be available only after the event. Even now, however, many analysts point out that the activities leading to the Cop (the building of the stadiums, the improvements to the roads, etc) have significantly contributed to saving the country from the worst effects of the recent global economic crisis.

As of mid-June, when the first round of football marches is still being played, the estimates regarding the number of football fans that came to South Africa vary between 250,000 and 400,000. Local media report that most of them will probably visit the country in future.

The tourists interviewed were overwhelmingly positive about their first impressions. They say that the locals are ready to go out of their way to help and that there is a real desire among the South Africans to present their country in the best possible light. Many were impressed by the shopping malls and the range of activities on offer in the nine host cities.

Having been warned about the high crime rate in South Africa, some tourists seemed surprised not to have fallen victim to at least a mugging. The 24-hour justice system and no-nonsense approach by South African authorities seem to be bearing fruit. Lack of visible criminal activity did not, however, stop tourists from gleefully buying the "I survived Jo'burg!" T-shirts at the Johannesburg Rosebank Roof Market.

Greedy service providers are seen as a bigger threat to tourists than crime. There are rumours that some restaurants charge people with outlandish accents three times more than locals, on the grounds that they do not possess a “loyalty card”.

Lack of public transport is another sore spot. “Without a real public transit system or a train culture such as is found in European cities, getting to and from stadiums often feels like planning a visit to Jupiter”, says one football fan.

But the biggest problem for many is the cold. Mid-June, the temperatures in Johannesburg plunged to below zero Centigrade at night, barely managing to rise above plus 10 during the day. “My fingers are shivering as I am writing this”, says one Canadian blogger. Meanwhile, South Africans remain unsympathetic, thinking that people who deal with such horrors as snow, sleet and day temperatures of below zero have no call to moan about the Highveld winter. The problem, of course, is that nothing in South Africa is geared towards those two-three months of bitter cold per year. There is no central heating; there are no double glazed windows. The fact that the Highveld skies remain mercilessly clear only makes things worse, for, as everybody knows, there’s nothing like a good cloud cover to warm up the space underneath it.

The most contentious issue of the 2010 World Cup are the vuvuzelas. Largely languishing in obscurity prior to 2010, those long plastic trumpets that produce loud, monotonous and painful noise are now being elevated by some South Africans to the symbol of national pride. Others want to see them banned, pure and simple. Since that may not happen, the vuvuzela opponents can resort to ear-plugs and draw consolation from the knowledge that every dedicated vuvuzela blower will suffer swollen lips and sore throat.

As for the other FIFA 2010 problems, most of the visitors were probably not even aware of the protest actions by the staff of a private company in charge of security on several the World Cup stadiums. The police forces have stepped in and matches were not affected. A much bigger problem may arise only one week into the 2010 Football World Cup if the union that represent the employees of the state-owned power utility Eskom acts on its threat to declare a strike over pay and housing subsidies. The strike might not disrupt electricity supply on the stadiums (generators should be ready to take over), but it would leave many tourists shivering miserably in the South African winter.

Barring an industrial action by the Eskom workers or similar unpleasant surprises, it can be said even this early into the 2010 World Cup that, all in all, notwithstanding the disappointing performance from the national football team Bafana Bafana in their second game of the tournament, South Africa as a country has already won. There are hopes that the 30-odd billions of Rands the government spent will pay off as thousands of people make South Africa their future number one tourist and investment destination. In the words of former president Nelson Mandela, the tournament is a success because of the economic boost it has given South Africa and its promise of further uniting a country that still bears the scars of division.

As for the immediate future trends, a new hobby is being born in and around stadiums: collecting used FIFA 2010 tickets. The chances are they will soon appear on the local consumer-to-consumer trading platform, bidorbuy.co.za, the site that has had to ban the re-sale of real tickets after the South African authorities criminalised this activity.

Photo: Chris Kirchhoff, MediaClubSouthAfrica