The soccer world cup tournament is soon coming to a town near you. The excitement is all around, but for very different reasons. While some of us can't wait to see men chase a piece of inflated leather, others are busy wanting to make a political statement. From Julius to Steve to some loonies with arms caches all over the place, it seems the scramble for Africa (South Africa) is upon us all over again.
It is said that perception is reality if viewed from a distance or something to that effect. I therefore think we should probably excuse some would-have been visitors for deciding that Africa is just too dangerous a place to visit. The airlines have a few unsold seats, FIFA seems to be battling to put bums on the seats in some stadia and the anticipated tourist boom has been revised downwards. The Afro-pessimists are saying "I told you so" while some in Africa are shouting racism
The question we should all ask ourselves is if Afro-pessimism can be defensible under any circumstances.
Africans are a sweet bunch of souls. Without their leadership that is! The African leadership is said to be, by and large, a bunch of incoherent kleptocrats who look to blame others for their cock-ups. So here is their chance to disapprove sceptics. South Africa did convince FIFA those many years ago that we can hold the tournament in our country. It is also true that we have held successful rugby and cricket world cups. If we fail for whatever reason to put on an extravaganza of international standards, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves. To try and pass the buck will be an admission that somehow, we need acceptance and assistance to cut it in cut-throat competitions.
We won the bid and there and then, the game changed. We owe it to humanity to perform.
Failure should not be a reflection on the African as a whole but a failure of its leadership. After all, the people of South Africa got sold on the promises of jobs and investment and goodwill. We will hate to think that our leaders did not factor in every variable at hand. Surely, no excuse can stand six years of unfettered marketing. Not unless the product is just not good enough!
It is said that perception is reality if viewed from a distance or something to that effect. I therefore think we should probably excuse some would-have been visitors for deciding that Africa is just too dangerous a place to visit. The airlines have a few unsold seats, FIFA seems to be battling to put bums on the seats in some stadia and the anticipated tourist boom has been revised downwards. The Afro-pessimists are saying "I told you so" while some in Africa are shouting racism
The question we should all ask ourselves is if Afro-pessimism can be defensible under any circumstances.
Africans are a sweet bunch of souls. Without their leadership that is! The African leadership is said to be, by and large, a bunch of incoherent kleptocrats who look to blame others for their cock-ups. So here is their chance to disapprove sceptics. South Africa did convince FIFA those many years ago that we can hold the tournament in our country. It is also true that we have held successful rugby and cricket world cups. If we fail for whatever reason to put on an extravaganza of international standards, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves. To try and pass the buck will be an admission that somehow, we need acceptance and assistance to cut it in cut-throat competitions.
We won the bid and there and then, the game changed. We owe it to humanity to perform.
Failure should not be a reflection on the African as a whole but a failure of its leadership. After all, the people of South Africa got sold on the promises of jobs and investment and goodwill. We will hate to think that our leaders did not factor in every variable at hand. Surely, no excuse can stand six years of unfettered marketing. Not unless the product is just not good enough!
i think you're right about the difference between the south african and the south african leader, two totally different cultures.
ReplyDeleteit's out of our control what the leaders do, so what do we do as individuals to make it work?