Preconceptions overturned
"I hear they cause a lot of trouble in the stadiums," said Seth, the owner of a ramshackle bar on the main road in the sleepy village of Phokeng.
He'd stocked up his fridges with beer, but wasn't quite sure what to expect from the hordes of England fans about to arrive.
He needn't have worried. Last night Phokeng turned into a cheering, dancing, vuvuzela-blaring example of the power of football - and, let's not forget, beer - to bring people together.
And it wasn't just the locals who had some preconceptions overturned as the sun set.
The temperature dipped, and the giant floodlights at the stadium cast a white glow over a now raucous village, its dirt roads clogged with beeping cars, cheering fans and grinning Fifa volunteers.
"We stayed at Sun City," said a couple from Leeds, sitting at another bar. "We were worried about the crime. But now we just wish we'd come and stayed here."
Nearby four swaying Englishmen clasping vuvuzelas spoke of feeling "intimidated" by the thought of visiting the country, but were now "swapping shirts" and getting their photos taken with almost everyone they bumped into.
Earlier, I myself had bumped into a lamppost - sober, I assure you - and was quickly surrounded by policemen who've clearly been well briefed about the need to reassure foreigners.
They wanted to know if I'd been mugged, or needed escorting anywhere. I hadn't and didn't, but they, and all the officials I've come across so far during the tournament, could not have been more charming.
As in Soweto on Friday, we ended up knocking on someone's door and asking if we could charge our satellite and computer equipment from their kitchen power socket.
Five men were sitting in the yard drinking home-brew and waiting to watch the game on television.
We sat in our van beside them editing this television report before joining the crowds streaming towards the stadium.
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Andrew, what an uplifting and hopeful article about dreams I once thought could never be realized - dreams about black & white, classless society, eradication of poverty, man's humanity to man, man's realization that ultimately the bell tolls for us all.
Thanks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s (sports for Peace Gala in Johannesburg):
"The World Cup is a triumph for humanity."
Yes, and may this triumph extend well beyond the end of the world cup into the everyday world that we all face. We can make it happen! Yes, we can!!
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@Andrew: I never thought you know how to write something positive about Africa particularly south Africa. Honestly this is the first article I see from you so let’s hop the world is not ending.
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Wow! Andrew, you finally wrote something positive about Africa and South Africa in particular! No one is suggesting that reporters like yourself should report only the positives. On is simply asking for a balance in your reporting. The misconception by those visitors from Leeds that South Africa is crime-ridden is probably from reading many of your articles including one on South Africa's bad roads. As if there are no crimes or bad roads in the U.K.
I'm glad that the visitors from Leeds found out on their own that things are not as bad as they have been painted in the media.
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I think a whole lot of the commentators miss the point. Why can't there be attentive policemen around all the time? Why do we need a special event?
This is far from the usual situation, and what's really depressing is that it shows what South Africa is capable of if it makes an effort, and therefore highlights that for all this time the government simply hasn't been making the effort. It shows that the government is more concerned with impressing foreigners than taking care of the people who voted them in.
If you're familiar with South Africa then this is probably one of the most depressing and heart-breaking articles Mr. Harding has written yet, because it just highlights that Africa isn't crime-ridden because there isn't money to combat crime, but rather because the government chooses it should be that way.
[P.s. Please don't attempt to argue that the world cup is financing the extra security, because actually it's not. The South African government (and ultimately the South African taxpayer) are funding the vast majority of the World Cup's expenses and will not reach anywhere near break-even point]
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Andrew does his best but sometimes his points may not come across well. His reporting is much better than the tabliods press in general and tabliod websites like yahoo eurosport.
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thanks as always for your comments! too negative, too positive... you of course are the judges. i enjoyed this article this morning: http://www.scenicsouth.co.za/2010/06/open-letter-to-our-foreign-media-friends-by-peter-davies/
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Thanks for the link. I read its origin last week in Supersport website(great channel by the way) with hundreds of comments. It seems some/most (choose) cannot get their heads round the fact that the cup is held in Africa for the first time. If it was held in West Africa, they will complain about the roads, mosquitos, heat etc, North Africa terrorism etc. Their ignorance baffles me. I for one would love to see how they cover the 2012 olympics. There will be no negatives like muggings, knifings etc
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I love this, like expecting to be eaten by the lion when it only licks your face then wanders off to flop in the shade.
I don't want to jinx anything because it's early days but it seems to me that sport has something going for it. Maybe South Africa should hold regular major international sporting events simply as a crime prevention tactic. Give the nation a common goal, pun intended.
How sad I was thinking that my family plagued by crime were driven out of the country just before they were able to witness this potential for peace and solidarity amongst all, something they could've taken with them as a lasting glimpse of their treasured land. Indeed something they only briefly glimpsed in 1995 when Mandela seemed, and less the rugby, to be able to do this by rallying the nation into rainbow nation fever.
It was sport "the rugby world cup" that enabled him to do this. Had it been football infinitely more "the peoples game" we might just have been crime free since?
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"you of course are the judges".
Very true, Andrew, very true. We are the judges... and some of us have long memories too.
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People are often surprised to find out that human beings are just human beings. The intense media focus on this problem of that never finds time for personal encounters that really don't address any pressing issue but simply the kindness of strangers towards each other. The bad people in this world are a minority that creates issue for the rest. A mugger in S.A. a banker in London, Madoff in NYC, so the world is but on a one to one level most folks get along. Governments and the media like strife, the rest of the people just want to get through the day....and have a beer.
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Yep they do ghost, but it's sadly not always possible hey? Its a free world no? No not everywhere. A friendly beer on the back porch can mean with the speed of a bolt of lightening the end of life as we know it. The sense of entitlement, at any cost is a crippling social barrier. Maybe its the "minority creating issues for the the rest" but they remain these "issues".
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