Have your say: World Cup is wasteful and stupid

[Mo Rush]

'It is wasteful and stupid'
10/12/2007 08:52 - (SA)

Jon Qwelane

A friend of mine holds a view with which I align myself.

It is a play on the title of famous Charles Dickens novel, Tale of Two Cities; my friend's version is "cities of two tales".

Basically, it is a critique of the insanity which has been allowed to set in since South Africa won the nod to host the World Cup in 2010. Nearly everyone makes the mistake of thinking that our economic, social and financial woes will evaporate with the staging of the tournament.

The municipalities of entire cities - Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Durban, Polokwane, Rustenburg, and Port Elizabeth - have all emulated the national government by throwing caution overboard and committing the available resources to building grandiose stadiums, which will not be much use to anybody after the full month of the World Cup.

Only Cape Town continues to agree grudgingly to the madness.

Why most people seem to think they will wake up being millionaires the day after the tournament is part of the madness: in Boksburg where I stay, for example, I have seen a mushrooming of bed-and-breakfast establishments as house owners went to great expense to refurbish and transform their properties into inns.

Even that maddest of all the nonsense is Sam Shilowa's toy train, the Gautrain, which arguably will not be equal to the lofty designs announced by its promoters. It will definitely not help ease the daily congestion on the roads, and is in reality a clever scheme for some ANC fatcats to make easy and ready millions for themselves.

But this is what the "cities of two tales" is really about: the expensive monoliths being constructed are an unnecessary exaggeration of the affluence of the wealthy cities where they are being built. One has to traverse the grim poverty and squalor of the so-called "informal" settlements to get to any of the grandiose stadiums.

90 minutes of football, a lifetime in a shack

As my friend quite correctly argues, how will elected councillors be able to convince their constituents to spend 90 minutes watching a football game played inside a stadium costing billions of rands, and afterwards retire to his ramshackle dwelling, in most cases a tin shack, to contemplate his state of increasing poverty?

Lest we forget, the Fifa inspection committee examined the eight world-standard stadiums we have - including FNB in Johannesburg, Absa Stadium in Durban, Newlands in Cape Town, Peter Mokaba in Polokwane, Port Elizabeth Stadium, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, and Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg - and passed them as fit to host the World Cup. The only one that had not been there was Mbombela in Nelspruit.

The insanity has been to build ultra-expensive stadiums right next to the tried and tested grounds, such as Absa ground in Durban, and the new Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town - where there is already the Newlands stadium which the two local football teams can hardly fill on the days they play a derby.

But exactly who, and acting on whose advice, took the decision to splurge billions on brand-new and expensive stadiums when Fifa had already approved the existing structures? Korea still has the headache of the expensive and extensive stadiums it built when it hosted the tournament; what makes South Africa think it will be different?

I smell a very fat rat here, a la arms deal corruption fiasco.

The trouble began when Fifa flouted its own strict rules and allowed politicians to interfere in the running of football - as it is, the local organising committee of the 2010 World Cup is replete with cabinet ministers, and the finance committee is actually under the control of a deputy cabinet member.

There will never be any acceptable reason for unnecessary expenditure, but this kind of rendering obsolete the grand stadiums which had been approved is totally not on.

It is wasteful, stupid, and smacks of gross corruption.

# Jon Qwelane's column is published each week on News24, courtesy of Jon Qwelane and the editor of Sunday Sun, which originally carried the article.

[^Anton^]

While I agree that the priority of South Africa shouldn't be to spend millions in ultra-modern stadiums (especially when some of them were apparently fit for the WC), I don't think the World Cup effect is just a fantasy, such huge events do change the cities and countries where they are hosted, and it gives people something to work for and feel proud of, and isn't positive thinking what South Africa needs at the present to keep getting better?

My opinion is that even though the article may pose a few valid points which people maybe don't want to see, it falls into exageration..

[Sand-Shark]

I was hugely excited by the prospect of SA hosting the world cup. Some of this was caused by the misguided assumtion that the government would have to get their house in order before 2010. How wrong could I have been?

- The infrastructure is failing and I'm petrified of what the state of the electricity supply will be like at a time when it should be at its best.
- The goverment has failed dismally on the managment of the crime situation. (and I'm not fooled by last week's statistics of lower violent crime stats)
- The goverment has sent out all the wrong messages in failing to condemn Mugabe, and millions of people pour over the borders depriving South Africans of much needed welfare.
- Jacob Zuma, the laughing stock of the international community for his stance on HIV and alleged corruption, is all but warming the president's throne.

I can't help but still be excited by the thought of having the world's attention on South Africa, but day by day my fear increases of what will be awaiting tourists in 2010. One person stabbed outside a ground, one power failure at a ground and the "I-told-you-so" mob will be out in force.

And what frustrates me most is that the government doesn't seem to see this - they are so busy picking out the colour for their pocket linings, that they seems to have missed what a HUGE opportunity this is.

I'm hope I'm proved wrong...

[Harkeb]

Wont even bother to read this nonsense. There will always be cynics! If nothing ever gets done and people stop taking chances, we'll cease to develop. What's the point of being?

[Sand-Shark]

I'm like you, never would say a bad word about SA to anyone because I feel unbelievably passionate about the country and am still hugely excited about the prospect of a WC there but...

...let's not bury our heads in the sand. There are serious problems which can ruin this massive opportunity for the country.

There are very vaild points being raised here. South Africa will be lumped with a huge debt after this WC and unless it's a showcase which brings in streams of tourists after the event, this money will never be recouped. Forget the new stadiums (stadia). They will be ready whatever happens, but 3 years isn't much time to sort out the other problems and trust me, they need sorting out.

[Mo Rush]

This guy is bitter he is not getting his informal settlement replaced with a new free home.
This is weak, poor and lazy journalism.

[Sand-Shark]

Agreed: The world cup is NOT "Wasteful and Stupid".

How we manage it, might be.

[Mo Rush]

Originally Posted by Sand-Shark

Agreed: The world cup is NOT "Wasteful and Stupid".

How we manage it, might be.

I rarely consider articles by journalists who have already made up their mind that all world cup venues are white elephants and are too lazy to mention which venues e.g. green point stadium, present sustainability challenges.

No mention of Ellis Park, Loftus, Free State Stadium regularly used.

Rustenburg went out of its way and has signed up Platinum stars soccer team and Black Leopards rugby team.

The horrific state of Boet Erasmus stadium and the R1.2 billion spent on a decent stadium for PE is far from being excessive.

Nelspruit and Polokwane having stadia forming part of sports complexes and being reduced in capacity post 2010. IMO both facilities are fantastic and under R1 billion and meet FIFA requirements, and these two cities deserve at least 1 decent multi-purpose facility.

Green Point faces challenges but the city has been proactive to find an operator, locally or internationall, and will sell naming rights. It also looks like WP rugby will move to the new stadium. Its location is arguably one of the finest, connected to the waterfront, within 5 minutes drive of the CBD and surrounding by an urban park.

Moses M, are working hard to get the Sharks to move to the new stadium, and its athletics track allows for multiple sports events. The stadium forms part of a kings park vision formed back in 1994(of which I have a collection of documents).

Soccer City is our national stadium and at a capacity of 95,000 and a cost of R1.5 billion will cost 1/10th of Wembley Stadium, hardly excessive spending.
Nobody seemed to moan about its capacity of 70,000 and it only being used for big matches, and I think it should remain to serve as the main venue for football and should work to attract more events.

[Mo Rush]

He also compares us to Korea Japan, who built/upgrade 20 venues compared to South Africa only building five venues.

[DennisRodman97]

The World Cup is a once in a life time oppurtunity especially for a country like south africa that is 70% developed....Its a chance to show the world that africa is not all about disease, poverty and famine.
This is a beautiful continent. South Africa has a chance to put their country on the map once again. Hell what most people know about south africa in some part of the world is apartheid, nelson mandela...thats it......some dont even know south africa is the world largest gold producing country and among others.
South Africa just dont wanna be on a map for a country that was segregated b4....it wants to be known as a country that can come together despite their differences and host a spectacular world class event....thats how u get respect in the world.
This upcoming world cup will be better than japan/korea 2002.....

[Harkeb]

Thanks Dennis. Negativity brings about disaster. The ball is rolling and too much is at stake not to make it a success. This is the one opportunity where government has to show its worth and commitment to tackle the various issues.