World Cup 2010

True or False: Will the 2010 World Cup actually take place in South Africa? Don’t be so quick to answer. In terms of stadia infrastructure, thanks to help from soccer governing body FIFA, South Africa will be ready on the match front. Pitches will be in immaculate condition; ultra-modern stadiums will be completed; weather will be cooperative because the tournament takes place during the Southern Hemisphere winter. The reasons (and there are many) why the World Cup might not occur in South Africa are based on infrastructural and socio-cultural grounds. This week, South Africa had rolling blackouts on a massive scale. I don’t have to explain how this can be detrimental to a society and an economy as a whole, and the World Cup is no different, especially since the majority of matches take place at night or at least partially in darkness. Furthermore, South Africa does not have sufficient public transportation to host a major soccer tournament (remember: American stadiums are the exception; most stadiums in the world are located in the heart of a city and have very little in the way of public parking, thus rely heavily on mass transit to move supporters to and from matches). Lack of capacity/adequacy in the public transit sector is only the beginning. Indiscriminate violence against white tourists increases annually, as a result of rampant poverty in South Africa and the effect of South-South migration in the country. Immigrants from uberpoor sub-Saharan countries like the Congo, Mozambique, and especially Zimbabwe come to South Africa (it is estimated that more than a million Zimbabweans emigrated to South Africa last year) because one can earn far better wages as a waiter in Jo’burg than as a doctor in Kinshasa or a teacher in Maputo. Since there are nowhere near enough jobs to go around, many immigrants are left unemployed, homeless, and angry. The end result is far too many senseless violent crimes. You heard it here first, if South Africa’s murder rate against white tourists (the murder of a white German makes news, the murder of five black Zimbabweans does not. Do I agree with this? No. Is this how the world is? Yes.) does not subside substantially, FIFA will not stage the World Cup there. Prior to the release of the decision to hold the Cup in South Africa, FIFA developed a contingency plan that would allow either Korea and Japan or Germany to re-host the World Cup in case a multitude of calamities were to occur in South Africa, since these two Asian nations and Merkelstan already have the infrastructure in place. Do not be shocked if they decide to invoke this plan. However, don’t get me wrong, it would be an utter travesty if FIFA felt compelled to move the World Cup out of Africa (the continent has never hosted the games). It would behoove FIFA to substantially increase their aid directly specific South African government security initiatives (Lord knows its not safe in Thabo “HIV doesn’t cause AIDS” Mbeki’s hands) or outsource security to a private company in order to ensure that Africa’s first World Cup actually manifests itself and is not marred by arbitrary violence unrelated to football.